Re: [HM] Rheticus

Robin Hartshorne (robin@math.berkeley.edu)
Wed, 23 Sep 1998 13:21:48 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Dr. Raju

This is not exactly an answer to your question, but it may shed some
light on the matter.

Francois Viete in his first published work, the Canon Mathematicus
(1579) published tables of trigonometric functions to 9 places. The
labor must have been enormous, so I wonder also, what was the motivation
for creating such detailed tables?

Robin Hartshorne