Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Responsive image

Alhazen's problem

Which point on the surface of the spherical mirror can reflect a ray of light from the candle to the observer's eye?

Alhazen's problem, also known as Alhazen's billiard problem, is a mathematical problem in geometrical optics first formulated by Ptolemy in 150 AD.[1] It is named for the 11th-century Arab mathematician Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham), who presented a geometric solution in his Book of Optics. The algebraic solution involves quartic equations and was found in 1965 by Jack M. Elkin.

  1. ^ Weisstein, Eric W., "Alhazen's Billiard Problem", MathWorld

Previous Page Next Page






مسألة ابن الهيثم Arabic Alhazensches Problem German Problema de Alhacén Spanish Problème d'Alhazen French Alhazens (Ibn al-Haythams) problem NB

Responsive image

Responsive image