( ix )
astronomical tables, translated by Mohammed ben Ibrahim al Fazari from the work of an Indian astronomer who visited the court of Almansur in the 156th year of the Hejira (A.D. 773).
The science as taught by Mohammed ben Musa, in the treatise now before us, does not extend beyond quadratic equations, including problems with an affected square. These he solves by the same rules which are followed by Diophantus[1], and which are taught, though less comprehensively, by the Hindu mathematicians[2] That he should have borrowed from Diophantus is not at all probable; for it does not appear that the Arabs had any knowledge of Diophantus’ work before the middle of the fourth century after the Hejira, when Abu’l-wafa Buzjani rendered it into Arabic[3]. It
