Jost Bürgi's \textit{artificium} of 1586 in modern view, an ingenious algorithm for calculating tables of the sine function

DOI10.4171/EM/304MaRDI QIDQ509109zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Jörg Waldvogel

Publication date 8 February 2017

Published in Elemente der Mathematik (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.4171/EM/304

zbMATH Keywords

\textit{artificium}algorithmdifference methodKunstwegsine tables

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 15th and 16th centuries, Renaissance (01A40)

Review text

When Menso Folkerts recently rediscovered an hitherto unknown manuscript, the \textit{Fundamentum astronomiae} in which Jost Bürgi described his \textit{artificium} (Kunstweg) [\textit{M. Folkerts} et al., Hist. Math. 43, No. 2, 133--147 (2016; Zbl 1343.01011)], it became clear that Bürgi had an ingenious difference method in his command with which he was able to compute sine tables. Recently, \textit{D. Launert} has presented an analysis of this manuscript [Nova Kepleriana: Bürgis Kunstweg im \textit{Fundamentum astronomiae} -- Entschlüsselung seines Rätsels. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (2015)] and now the author has translated Bürgi's mathematic into a modern form. Thus, modern readers can fully comprehend Bürgi's algorithm and even the speed of convergence is determined.

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Cites work

• How Bürgi computed the sines of all integer angles simultaneously in 1586
• Jost Bürgi and the discovery of the logarithms
• Jost Bürgi's method for calculating sines

Cited in

(8)

• Jost Bürgi's methods of calculating sines, and possible transmission from India
• Zigzags with Bürgi, Bernoulli, Euler and the Seidel-Entringer-Arnol'd triangle
• Jost Bürgi's method for calculating sines
• Sine tables rediscovered -- Bürgi's ``artistic path decoded
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3902601 (Why is no real title available?)
• Jost Bürgi's ``Coss: also a contribution to early analysis
• A clockmaker's mathematics: a technology-based approach to the mathematical works of Jost Bürgi (1552--1632)
• How Bürgi computed the sines of all integer angles simultaneously in 1586

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