[HM] Rheticus
C. K. Raju (ckraju@csnistad.ren.nic.in)
Wed, 23 Sep 1998 03:03:53 PDT
Georg Joachim Rheticus who wrote the introduction to Copernicus' work
and got it published in Nuremburg in 1543 is also credited with a
posthumous work _Opus Palatinum de Triangulis_, completed and published
in 1596, 20 years after his death, by his student Valentin Otto. I
understand that this work contains tables of values for the
trigonometric functions calculated to 10 decimal places. I lack access
to a library which might contain this work. Will someone enlighten me
about any or all of the following.
(a) The career of Valentin Otto.
(b) Why was tabulation needed to the 10th decimal place?
(c) What was the method used?
(d) How accurate were the actually computed values?
Dr. C. K. Raju
National Institute of Science, Technology,
and Development Studies,
Pusa, New Delhi, 110012, India.