The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry

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Princeton University Press, 2009 - 329 pàgines

The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth is the first major history in English of the origins and early development of trigonometry. Glen Van Brummelen identifies the earliest known trigonometric precursors in ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, and he examines the revolutionary discoveries of Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer believed to have been the first to make systematic use of trigonometry in the second century BC while studying the motions of the stars. The book traces trigonometry's development into a full-fledged mathematical discipline in India and Islam; explores its applications to such areas as geography and seafaring navigation in the European Middle Ages and Renaissance; and shows how trigonometry retained its ancient roots at the same time that it became an important part of the foundation of modern mathematics.

The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth looks at the controversies as well, including disputes over whether Hipparchus was indeed the father of trigonometry, whether Indian trigonometry is original or derived from the Greeks, and the extent to which Western science is indebted to Islamic trigonometry and astronomy. The book also features extended excerpts of translations of original texts, and detailed yet accessible explanations of the mathematics in them.

No other book on trigonometry offers the historical breadth, analytical depth, and coverage of non-Western mathematics that readers will find in The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth.

 

Continguts

II
1
III
9
IV
10
V
11
VI
12
VII
18
VIII
20
IX
24
LII
129
LIII
131
LIV
133
LV
135
LVI
137
LVII
140
LVIII
146
LIX
149

X
33
XI
34
XII
37
XIII
39
XIV
41
XV
46
XVI
49
XVII
53
XVIII
56
XIX
57
XX
63
XXI
68
XXII
70
XXIII
74
XXIV
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XXV
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XXVII
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XXVIII
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XXIX
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XXX
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XXXI
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XXXII
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XXXIII
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XXXIV
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XXXV
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XXXVI
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XXXVII
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XXXVIII
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XXXIX
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XLI
102
XLII
105
XLIII
107
XLIV
108
XLV
109
XLVI
111
XLVIII
113
XLIX
121
L
124
LI
125
LX
152
LXI
156
LXIII
158
LXIV
164
LXV
166
LXVI
168
LXVIII
173
LXIX
175
LXXI
179
LXXII
186
LXXIII
192
LXXIV
195
LXXV
201
LXXVI
205
LXXVII
207
LXXVIII
209
LXXIX
213
LXXX
215
LXXXI
217
LXXXII
223
LXXXIII
224
LXXXIV
225
LXXXV
227
LXXXVI
230
LXXXVII
233
LXXXVIII
237
LXXXIX
242
XC
244
XCI
247
XCII
254
XCIII
255
XCIV
264
XCV
267
XCVI
270
XCVIII
273
XCIX
284
C
287
CI
323
Copyright

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Sobre l'autor (2009)

Glen Van Brummelen is professor of mathematics at Quest University Canada. He is the coeditor of "Mathematics and the Historian's Craft" and the coauthor of "Calculus Explorations Powered by Technology: Tales of History and Imagination".

Informació bibliogràfica