A Friendly Gift on the Science of Arithmetic

This treatise deals specifically with basic arithmetic, as needed for computing the division of inheritance according to Islamic law. It contains 48 folios and is divided into an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction discusses the idea of numbers as an introduction to the science of arithmetic. Chapter I discusses the multiplication of integers. Chapter II is on the division of integers and the computation of common factors. Chapter III deals extensively with fractions and arithmetic operations on them. The author, an Egyptian jurist and mathematician, was the grandson of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Māridīnī, and a student of Ibn al-Majdī. The work illustrates the analytical sophistication of 15th-century mathematicians in Egypt.