Claudius Ptolemy , William H. Donahue (Editor), Bruce M. Perry (Translator)
The Almagest: Introduction to the Mathematics of the Heavens
- ISBN 13:
- 9781888009439
- author:
- Claudius Ptolemy , William H. Donahue (Editor), Bruce M. Perry (Translator)
- format:
- Paperback
- publisher:
- Green Lion Press
- language:
- English
- Publication Year:
- 2014
- Pages:
- 264
- Dimensions:
- 17.8 x 1.9 x 25.1 cm
- Genre:
- History, Other Historical Subjects, History of Science
- Condition:
- New
- Availability:
- Item usually sent within 10 working days
Description
The Almagest is a comprehensive and masterful treatment of the mathematics of the heavens, eclipsing its predecessors in a vast series of thirteen books. Ptolemy's work shows how the motions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars can be expressed through geometrical models, enabling remarkable accuracy in computing celestial positions.
The book covers the essential features of Ptolemy's treatment of the heavens, including the development of trigonometry, the design of astronomical instruments, and the use of zero as an independent number. The present selection includes Ptolemy's tables for computing positions for all five planets, as well as instructions for their use.
The text is accompanied by extensive notes and introductions, aimed at making the book accessible to students encountering Ptolemy for the first time. The Preliminaries describe the basic phenomena of the heavens, such as the motions of the fixed stars and the observations that allow the sun's path in the heavens to be discerned.
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