Mathematical tables in Ptolemy's \textit{Almagest}

DOI10.1016/J.HM.2013.10.004MaRDI QIDQ2436779zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Nathan Sidoli

Publication date 26 February 2014

Published in Historia Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2013.10.004

zbMATH Keywords

Almagest Greek astronomy Greek mathematics mathematical functions mathematical tables

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of Greek and Roman mathematics (01A20)

Review text

From the text: In the \textit{Almagest}, the tables are meant to serve a double function: they both allow computation and they reveal the underlying mathematical pattern, usually by relating a set of numbers with changing differences to a set of numbers composed of regular differences of degrees of a circle, which acts as a sort of standard for regularity. The point of these tables is not to track the apparent motions of the celestial bodies, as was done in other tables then in circulation in Greco-Roman Egypt [\(\ldots\)], but rather to show that any apparently irregular motion is actually based on the periodic motion of the circle; that is, to reveal the underlying mathematical principle of regular circular motion. Tables perform a number of functions in the deductive structure of the treatise. At the basic level, they are organized lists that catalog information, such as the list of the characteristics of parallels of latitude, \textit{Almagest} II.6. They are also used to simplify calculations that can be carried out with simple arithmetic, by reducing the number of divisions or multiplications that must be carried out, such as the tables of mean motion, \textit{Almagest} III.2, IV.4, IX.4. They can also be used to carry out a calculation that cannot, in principle, be done on the basis of a simple arithmetic or geometric calculation, such as the table of chords, \textit{Almagest} I.11. They can represent a relational function between two or more magnitudes using numbers, such as \textit{Almagest} I.11 or the table of rising-times, \textit{Almagest} II.8. And they can form the basis of an algorithm that acts as a computational function, such as \textit{Almagest} I.11, II.8, or the table of the full lunar anomaly, \textit{Almagest} V.8. Indeed, an individual table usually fulfills more than one of these functions at the same time.

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