Impact of Islamic Civilization on Blossoming of Applied Mathematics: Calculation of the Distance between Baghdad and Mecca by Abolwafa Buzjani

In the 4th Century (AD)، in a short essay of which a manuscript is extant، the eminent Iranian mathematician and astronomer، Abulwafa Buzjani، determined the distance between Baghdad and Mecca in an entirely innovative way. He has generalized this method to determine the distance between all cities، if their geographical longitudes and latitudes are known. In the present article، after a review of the era of Buzjani which is known as the golden era of Islamic civilization and the applied mathematics became popular in that period، using the modern mathematical signs، his method is discussed; then، the result is compared with the results of one of the modern methods in this field so that accuracy of the this great mathematician may be shown in a better way.