Ibn Fallus

Shams ad-Dīn Abû’t-Tāhir Ismāʽīl ibn-Ibrāhīm ibn-Ġāzī ibn-ʽAlī ibn Muhammad al-Ḥanafī al-Māridīnī (1194–1252),^[1] often called Ismāʽīl ibn-Fullūs or Ibn Fallus, was an Arab Egyptian mathematician of the Islamic Golden Age. Whilst on pilgrimage to Mecca, he tells of an epitome he wrote on number theory (extant in manuscript), which building on the work of Nicomachus, added three new perfect numbers (33,550,336; 8,589,869,056; and 137,438,691,328) to the four already discovered by the Greeks.

Shams ad-Din Ibn Fallus al-Ḥanafī al-Māridīnī
Born	Ismāʽīl ibn-Ibrāhīm ibn-Ġāzī ibn-ʽAlī ibn Muhammad 1194 Mardin
Died	1252 (aged 57–58)
Other names	Ismāʽīl ibn-Fullūs
Occupation	Mathematician

His table also included seven other supposed perfect numbers which are now known to be incorrect. Roshdi Rashed believes the errors emerged from over-reliance on Nicomachus' method.^[2]

This work did not reach Europe, and the three perfect numbers were only rediscovered there during the Renaissance, including by Pietro Cataldi.^[3]

Further reading

• Ismāʽīl ibn-Fullūs, Iʽdād al-asrār fī asrār al-iʽdād

See also

• Regiomontanus
• Johannes Scheubel
• Pietro Cataldi