The medieval Moon in a matrix: double argument tables for lunar motion (Q2420595)

Beginning at the end of the thirteenth century, double argument tables (put in a format of what we now call matrix) were progressively constructed by European table-makers in both Latin and Hebrew. They became a powerful tool for presenting astronomical information, in a single and compact way, to determine the positions of the Moon, one of the more complex problems in medieval astronomy. Double argument tables were also applied to the planets, and the authors inform us that this subject will be addressed in a subsequent paper. Here, as well as others scientific knowledge and practices, European astronomers followed some astronomers from Islamic countries (for example, already in the late tenth century, the Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yūnus had compiled an extensive double argument table for the lunar equation). The compilation and the use of such tables show the ``substantial progress in facilitating the task of practitioners of astronomy at the time and represents a qualitative change in medieval table-making'' (p. 357). The paper under review deals with the application of double argument tables to lunar motion, for which the authors have identified seven categories: (1) tables for the lunar equation, or the equivalent; (2) tables for the true lunar position; (3) tables for lunar velocity at any time; (4) tables for the time from mean to true syzygy; (5) tables for the distance in longitude from mean to true syzygy; (6) tables to determine the position of the Moon between syzygies; and (7) tables for solar eclipses. In this thorough and illustrated (with facsimiles of manuscripts or printed tables) contribution, the authors focus on each category. For each one, they present in detail the authors they identified as compilers of these double argument tables and their texts. Moreover, they explain principal changes operated by medieval authors compared to their predecessors. As an example, for the first category (tables for the lunar equation), the authors mention ten authors having written in Hebrew or in Latin from the end of the thirteenth century to the late fifteenth century, being part of the tradition of al-Battānī (and the Toledan tables) or the Alfonsine tradition. All works are presented in order to put forward their originality concerning the choice of the parameters for the tables and the different computations linked to these parameters. This part (p. 336--344) is definitely one of the most significant parts of the present contribution, together with probably the fifth one (about tables for the time from mean to true syzygy, p. 347--351). Thus, the authors first succeeded in highlighting the diversity of the approaches adopted by the compilers of the tables, and then the circulation and appropriation of the tables with borrows or adaptations from each others. For example, concerning the sixth category (determination of the position of the Moon between syzygies), they conclude that ``these practices in table-making reveal a much more intense interaction than previously recognized between the astronomers that were at that time shaping the Parisian Alfonsine tables'' (p. 356).