"[Astronomy] it was the first science to develop a mathematical and geometrical
foundation and was also the first science to develop sophisticated instrumental
procedures - using quadrants, armillary spheres and projective techniques within the 360°
circle. This gave astronomy a firm basis for the collection and verification of precise data."
--Andy Fabian
Overall, there is reference to the work of about 170 mathematicians within five
major cultural settings. Such names include Hipparchus of Rhodes, Menelaus of
Alexandria, Brahmagupta of India, Islamic mathematicians such as Abu Narr
Mansor (Brummelen). This is pretty cool! Knowing that there are men out there working hard helps!
I also want to know the answer as to why the mapping out of astronomy
was important to our world?
What impact did it have on us? Did the development of this truly need to
happen for our world to run?
Let's begin with Hipparchus. He was known to have been a working astronomer at least from
162 to 127 BC. He was born in Nicaea, Bithynia, our modern day Turkey. He described the night sky
in such a way that he helped make discoveries that there is a precession of the equinoxes. (You can learn
more about what an equinox is in the podcast on the main page of the semester project, there is also a definition for the word on the main page).
He was able to do
by tracking the zodiac signs that he used to map his sky. I will
not mention here what our day's zodiac signs are.
But because there is precession of the equinoxes the constellations we
see in the sky above us are the the
same as they were in the Hellenistic Period. Which is now accepted as approximately 323 BC to
31 BC. Hipparchus
of Nicaea( ca. 180-ca 125 B.C.) compiled the first trigonometric table , thus earning him
the right to be known as "the father of trigonometry."
The chief contribution attributed Hipparchus in astronomy, which helped lead
to the discovery of
trigonometry, were his organization of empirical data derived from the Babylonians,
the drawing up of a star catalogue,
improvement in important astronomical constants (such as length of the month and year,
the size of the moon, and the angle of the obliquity of the ecliptic.) and finally the
precession of equinoxes. (Cooke)
It is also speculated that Hipparchus should gain credit for the systematic use of 360
° . This comes from his use of the table of chords. This discovery might also have claim
by Hypsicles, who earlier than Hipparchus divided the day into 360 parts. What I love about mathematics
is that it is a masterpiece created by many artists. Each mathematician has some part in the beautiful creation.
Even we, today, are a part in the development of mathematics.
This youtube video contains a brief summary of the history of trigonometry.
Theory of Menelaus:
This theory is said to have played a fundamental role in spherical trigonometry and
astronomy. The mathematics of this can be explained in the math tab above.
Feel free to take a gander over there!
Ptolemy
Throughout this website you have had the chance of being exposed to this great mathematician and astronomer.
He wrote the book Almagest . This writing was said to be his greatest work. In this
He wrote a table of chords, similar to Hipparchus, but simpler in calculations. As mentioned
in the application section of this website, Christopher Columbus relied on the measurements that
Ptolemy made of the earth in his calculations of travel. Trigonometry had its beginnings in astronomy! This is what
I have learned about the history of trigonometry.
