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. It is essentially equivalent to a table of values of the sine function. It was the earliest trigonometric table extensive enough for many practical purposes, including those of astronomy (an earlier table of chords by Hipparchus gave chords only for arcs that were multiples of 7+1/2° = π/24 radians).[2] Since the 8th and 9th centuries, the sine and other trigonometric functions have been used in Islamic mathematics and astronomy, reforming the production of sine tables.[3] Khwarizmi and Habash al-Hasib later produced a set of trigonometric tables.
- ^ Toomer, G. J. (1998), Ptolemy's Almagest, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-00260-6
- ^ Thurston, pp. 235–236.
- ^ Berggren, J.L. (2016). Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3780-6. ISBN 978-1-4939-3778-3.
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