Mathematical Problems Solved by Imam Ali (AS)

One Day a person came to Ali (A.S.), thinking that since Ali thinks he is too smart, I'll ask him such a tough question that he won't be able to answer it and I'll have the chance to embarrass him in front of all the Arabs.

He asked "Ali, tell me a number, that if we divide it by any number from 1-10 the answer will always come in the form of a whole number and not as a fraction."

Hazrat Ali(as) Looked back at him and said, "Take the number of days in a year and multiply it with the number of days in a week and you will have your answer."

The person got astonished but as he was a Mushrik he still didn't believe Ali (A.S.). He calculated the answer Ali (AS) gave him. To his amazement he came across the following results:
The number of Days in a Year = 360 (in Arabic Calendar)

The Number of Days in a Week = 7

The product of the two numbers = 2520

Now ... 2520 / 1 = 2520

2520 / 2 = 1260

2520 / 3 = 840

2520 / 4 = 630

2520 / 5 = 504

2520 / 6 = 420

2520 / 7 = 360

2520 / 8 = 315

2520 / 9 = 280

2520 / 10= 252

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One day a person came to Ali (A.S.). He was planning to ask Ali (A.S.) such a question which would take Ali (A.S.) a long time to answer and because of that his Maghrib Prayers would be delayed. He asked, "Ali you say you know everything in the world, then tell me which animals lay eggs and which animals give birth to their young ones"

Hazrat Ali (A.S.) looked back at him smiled and said, "The animals who have their 'EARS' outside their body give birth to their young ones and the animals who have their 'EARS' inside their body lay eggs."

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A person was about to die, and before dying he wrote his Will which went as follows ...
"I have 17 Camels, and I have three sons. Divide my Camels in such a way that My eldest son gets half of them, the second one gets 1/3rd of the total and my youngest son gets 1/9th of the total number of Camels"
After his death when the relatives read his will they got extremely perplexed and said to each other that how can we divide 17 camels like this ?

So after a long hard thought they decided that there was only one man in Arabia who could help them: "Ali Ibne Abi Taalib." So they all came to the door of Ali (A.S.) and put forward their problem.

Hazrat Ali (A.S.) said, "Ok. I will divide the camels as per the man's will."

He said, "I will lend one of my camels to the total which makes it 18 (17+1=18), now lets divide as per his will"
The Eldest gets 1/2 of 18 = 9
The second one gets 1/3 of 18 = 6
and The Youngest gets 1/9 of 18 = 2
Now the total number of camels = 17

Then Hazrat Ali (A.S.) said, "Now I will take my Camel back."

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A man asked Imam Ali (a.s.) in Masjid-e-Kufa, "What is the distance between me and (pointing towards the sun) and the sun".
It is worth mentioning here about the complexity of this question. This man was an Arab. And in the Arabic language the numbers or count is limited upto one thousand (1000). The count in arabic does not exceed 1000. The answer to the question this man asked dealt in millions (distance).

It was like a challenge to Imam Ali (a.s.) to answer him in a convincing manner without confusing him.

Imam Ali (a.s.) answered : "If an Arab horse starts walking from here and continues walking for 500 years, then he (horse) will reach the sun."

The man got convinced and walked away.

But it is for us now to ponder on what Imam Ali (a.s.) said. This one sentence of Imam Ali (a.s.) shows and proves the genius that Imam Ali (a.s.) was.

Imam Ali (a.s.) said "If an Arab horse...", the average speed of an arab horse is 22 mph (miles per hour).

If a horse runs the full day (24hours) it will cover approximately 520 miles. This gives us the distance the horse will cover in 24 hrs (one day).

To calculate the distance covered by the horse in one month we multiply it 520 by 29.5 (Taking an average of the number of months in urdu callender. Assuming that 6 months are of 29 days and 6 months are of 30 days.). It gives us something around 15,500. The horse covers 15,500 miles in one month (30 days).

To get the distance that he will travel in one year we multiply it by 12. Since there are 12 months in a year. It gives you 1,86,000.

Then multiply 1,86,000 by 500 as the horse should run for 500 years. It gives you 9,34,00,000 miles.

Now if you ask an astronomer about the distance of sun from the earth he will tell you that the distance is never constant. The orbit of the earth is oval in shape. Sometimes it comes nearer to the sun and on occasions it distances itself from the sun. When the earth is closest to the sun its distance is 9,10,00,000 miles and the distance when it is farthest from the sun is 9,48,00,000 miles. When you take an average on these two distances it comes around 9,30,000 miles.

Imam Ali (a.s.) 1400 years back told us about the distance of the earth from the sun. This also proves that Imam Ali (a.s.) was a genius in Astronomy, Zoology and Arithmetic.

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Peace be Upon You Oh Ameer alMo`mineen(as)!