Computations of values of goniometric functions. (Q2856940)

The author summarises here several important steps in the development of trigonometric calculations. He starts with Ptolemy's table of chords in the \textit{Almagest}, showing in detail how it was calculated up to the (approximate) value of crd \(1^{\circ}.\) The Indian \textit{Aryabhatta} in the fifth century lists values for half-chords instead of chords in two lines of concise verse. The article then briefly charts the transformations of sines and improvements to their calculation among arabic mathematicians, including Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī (940--998), Abū Rayhānal-Bīrūnī (973--1048) and Jamshīd al-Kāshī (ca. 1380--1429). Al-Kāshī's calculation involving the algebraic trisection of an angle using cubic equations is introduced in more detail. The article proceeds to discuss the contributions of Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514--1574) and Nicolas Copernicus (1473--1543) to the study of trigonometric functions. Copernicus updated a table of sines for the chapters 12 -- 14 of his \textit{De revolutionibus}, which were published in advance in 1542 under the title \textit{De lateribus et angulis triangulorum}.NEWLINENEWLINEThe article concludes with a few modern methods for computation of trigonometric functions (especially tangents), including the method of continued fractions, and Volder's computer algorithm CORDIC (1959). This algorithm calculated tangents using a small table in the computer memory without multiplication and with only one final division, which made it especially suitable for early computers. An implementation of the algorithm in \(C\) is included.NEWLINENEWLINEThe article lacks specific citations for its discussion of Indian and Arabic mathematics. It can only be inferred from the list of references that the author relies on the recent book by \textit{G. van Brummelen} [The mathematics of the heavens and the earth. The early history of trigonometry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2009; Zbl 1160.01003)], supplemented by \textit{A. P. Yushkevich} [History of mathematics in the middle ages. (Russian) Moskau: Staatsverlag für physikalisch-mathematische Literatur (1961; Zbl 0114.24201)] and the book [A history of algorithms. From the pebble to the microchip. Berlin: Springer (1999; Zbl 0938.01003)] by \textit{J.-L. Chabert} et al. and others.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1330.01007].