er-Risâletü’l-Muhammediyye fî İlmi’l-Hisâb

Ali Kuşçu, the versatile scholar of the 15th century, was educated within the scholarly milieu of the Semerkand Medresesi and Rasathanesi under the direction of scholars such as Uluğ Bey, Kadızâde Rûmî, and Gıyâseddin Cemşid Kâşî. At the invitation of Fatih Sultan Mehmed Han, he set out for Istanbul together with his students from the circle of scholars. In this way, he would bring to Istanbul, in particular, the mathematical and astronomical knowledge accumulated in the Semerkand scholarly milieu and take steps toward establishing Istanbul as a new center of scientific learning. During his journey to Istanbul, while being honored with various gifts, he also composed a gift for the Sultan. Dedicated to Mehmed and entitled er-Risâletü’l-Muhammediyye fî İlmi’l-Hisâb, the book is a comprehensive work covering the fundamental mathematical subjects of its period. These subjects include arithmetic operations based on decimal and sexagesimal numeration, methods for finding the unknown, particularly algebra, summation of series, and applied geometry.