Tamerlane's Captive Mathematicians: Algebra in Samarkand

When Tamerlane conquered Damascus in 1401, he didn't just cart away gold and silk — he captured scholars. Among them was Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid al-Kashi, one of the greatest mathematicians of the Islamic world. Lucas and Luna explore how al-Kashi ended up in Samarkand, his revolutionary work on decimal fractions, his calculation of pi to 16 decimal places — a record that stood for nearly 200 years — and his role in designing the observatory that Tamerlane's grandson Ulugh Beg would later build. They also discuss the debate over whether al-Kashi was a captive or a voluntary émigré, and how Timur's empire became an unlikely crucible for mathematical innovation. #Tamerlane #Timurid #Samarkand #al-Kashi #IslamicMathematics #DecimalFractions #Pi #UlughBeg #SamarkandObservatory #Damascus #History #FexingoHistory #CentralAsia #Algebra #NasiralDinTusi #MongolEmpire #ScienceHistory #Mathematics Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo