Princeton University Press
The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry
Key Metrics
- Glen Van Brummelen
- Princeton University Press
- Hardcover
- 9780691129730
- 9.3 X 6.2 X 1.2 inches
- 1.4 pounds
- Mathematics > Trigonometry
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth is the first major history in English of the origins and early development of trigonometry. Glen Van Brummelen identifies the earliest known trigonometric precursors in ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, and he examines the revolutionary discoveries of Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer believed to have been the first to make systematic use of trigonometry in the second century BC while studying the motions of the stars. The book traces trigonometry's development into a full-fledged mathematical discipline in India and Islam; explores its applications to such areas as geography and seafaring navigation in the European Middle Ages and Renaissance; and shows how trigonometry retained its ancient roots at the same time that it became an important part of the foundation of modern mathematics.
The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth looks at the controversies as well, including disputes over whether Hipparchus was indeed the father of trigonometry, whether Indian trigonometry is original or derived from the Greeks, and the extent to which Western science is indebted to Islamic trigonometry and astronomy. The book also features extended excerpts of translations of original texts, and detailed yet accessible explanations of the mathematics in them.
No other book on trigonometry offers the historical breadth, analytical depth, and coverage of non-Western mathematics that readers will find in The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth.
Author Bio
Glen is a historian of mathematics and astronomy in ancient and medieval cultures, sometimes described as the only historian of trigonometry in the world.
He is author of The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry (Princeton, 2009), Heavenly Mathematics: The Forgotten Art of Spherical Trigonometry (Princeton, 2013), and Trigonometry: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2020). He has served twice as president of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics.
Prior to TWU, he was a founding faculty member and mathematics division coordinator of Quest University Canada. He won the Mathematical Association of America’s Haimo Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2016, and the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2017.
Research Interests
Glen studies the interactions between mathematics and science in premodern cultures. He is especially interested in trigonometric methods in ancient Greek, medieval Islamic, and medieval European astronomy. Recently he has been working as a member of the European Research Council-funded team ALFA (Alfonsine Astronomy), exploring the development of spherical astronomy in medieval and early Renaissance Europe and its links to Greek and Islamic predecessors.
His research has recently uncovered the beginning of the modern tangent and arc sine functions, and he is currently exploring the origin of our modern decimal positional numeration in the astronomical tables of the 15th century.
Education
Ph.D. (Simon Fraser University), 1993
M.Sc. (Simon Fraser University, 1988)
B.Sc. (University of Alberta), 1986
Source: Trinity Western University
Videos
No Videos
Community reviews
Write a ReviewNo Community reviews