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The term "trigonometry" was derived from Greek τρίγωνον trigōnon, "triangle" and μέτρον metron, "measure". [3]The modern words "sine" and "cosine" are derived from the Latin word sinus via mistranslation from Arabic (see Sine and cosine § Etymology).
Trigonometry was still so little known in 16th-century northern Europe that Nicolaus Copernicus devoted two chapters of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium to explain its basic concepts. Driven by the demands of navigation and the growing need for accurate maps of large geographic areas, trigonometry grew into a major branch of mathematics. [27]
Hipparchus (/ h ɪ ˈ p ɑːr k ə s /; Greek: Ἵππαρχος, Hípparkhos; c. 190 – c. 120 BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician.He is considered the founder of trigonometry, [1] but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. [2]
These are claimed to first appear in his 1608 edition of Trigonometria in the added trigonometric tables [5] and can also be found in the 1612 edition. [6] However, others argue that the use of the '.' symbol only constitute a way of grouping numbers and that the mixed use of decimal points and fractions as well as multiple decimal points do ...
The poor value for θ is especially surprising, since Archimedes writes that Aristarchus was the first to determine that the Sun and Moon had an apparent diameter of half a degree. This would give a value of θ = 0.25, and a corresponding distance to the Moon of 80 Earth radii, a much better estimate.
The table of chords, created by the Greek astronomer, geometer, and geographer Ptolemy in Egypt during the 2nd century AD, is a trigonometric table in Book I, chapter 11 of Ptolemy's Almagest, [1] a treatise on mathematical astronomy.
Its discovery is generally believed to have originated in India around the 4th century AD, [65] although Singaporean mathematician Lam Lay Yong claims that the method is found in the Chinese text The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, from the 1st century AD. [66] 60 AD: Heron's formula is discovered by Hero of Alexandria. [67]
Early Islamic scholars recognized Earth's sphericity, [56] leading Muslim mathematicians to develop spherical trigonometry [57] in order to further mensuration and to calculate the distance and direction from any given point on Earth to Mecca. This determined the Qibla, or Muslim direction of prayer.