scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1003089

The author has developed a least-squares method to determine the parameters underlying Medieval astronomical tables that usually come without enough background to uniquely reconstruct the mathematics used. The very carefully written paper gives first a survey of all that is known of tables attributed to al-Khwārizmī and then proceeds to analyse his table for the equation of time. The author points out that the result of the optimal search must be interpreted so that (1) all parameters must be identifiable with parameters used at the time and (b) the final distribution or errors must be close to random. The second condition here leads to the conclusion that the independent parameter is not solar longitude but a shifted value that makes all corrections go in one way only. The second part of the paper should be required reading not only for scholars of Medieval science for its methodology but also for practitioners of stastistical analysis since it shows the power of the method in a new field. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0855.00012].

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