Trigonometry
Trigonometry
Trigonometry
Introduction ............................……………………………………………. 3
Passage to Europe…………………………………………………………. 9
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………. 10
Introduction:
Trigonometry is the area of mathematics that deals with particular angle
functions and how to use them in computations. In trigonometry, an angle can
have six common functions. The terms sine (sin), cosine (cos), tangent (tan),
cotangent (cot), secant (sec), and cosecant (csc) are their names and
abbreviations. The figure shows these six trigonometric functions in respect to a
right triangle. When a triangle has an angle A, for instance, the ratio between
the side opposite A and the side opposite the right angle (the hypotenuse) is
known as the sine of A, or sin A. This definition also applies to the other
trigonometric functions. Before computers rendered trigonometry tables
obsolete, these functions—which are characteristics of angle an independent of
triangle size—were computed and tabulated for a wide range of angles. When
calculating unknown angles and distances from known or measured angles in
geometric figures, trigonometric functions are employed. The requirement to
calculate angles and distances in astronomy, mapping, surveying, and artillery
range finding led to the development of trigonometry. Plane trigonometry deals
with problems involving angles and lengths in a single plane. In spherical
trigonometry, applications to related issues in many three-dimensional planes
are examined.
History of trigonometry:
The history of trigonometry begins in ancient Egypt and Babylon. This is due to
the fact that the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Plimpton Tablet #322 are
the oldest extant examples of trigonometry. Pythagorean triplets, or numbers
that satisfy a right triangle's sides, are listed in a table found on the Plimpton
Tablet, which was created in 1800 BCE [1]. The Rhind Papyrus, which dates to
circa 1550 BCE, has puzzles that solve a pyramid's slope known as a Seked
The Greeks were mostly concerned with the sky and the heavens. Therefore,
Trigonometry started by studying the positions of the stars. Trigonometry is credited
to Hipparchus as its creator, and Ptolemy penned the Almagest, a significant treatise
on the topic [4]. Instead, it was in India during the sixth century when Sine tables were
first used, and they later moved back west.
Classical Trigonometry
Greek terms trigonon (meaning "triangle") and metron (meaning "to measure") are the
source of the word trigonometry. The Ancient Greeks heavily contributed to
trigonometry, with Hipparchus, Menelaus, and Ptolemy each living after one another
and building off the chord tables of their predecessors. Trigonometry was primarily
used to calculate the numerical values of the missing triangle parts (or any other shape
that can be divided into triangles) when the values of the other parts were known, until
around the 16th century. For instance, the third side and the two remaining angles of a
triangle can be determined if the lengths of the first two sides and the enclosed angle
are known. These computations set trigonometry apart from geometry, which focuses
mostly on qualitative relations. Naturally, this distinction is not always unambiguous.
Take the Pythagorean theorem, for instance, which is a quantitative statement
concerning the lengths of a right triangle's three sides. However, trigonometry was
essentially the progeny of geometry in its original form; the two did not split off into
their own mathematical disciplines until the 16th century.
4
Ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world
A number of ancient societies, including the Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, and
Chinese, were particularly well-versed in practical geometry, which included
several ideas that served as a foundation for trigonometry. Five of the 84 math,
algebraic, and geometric questions in the Rhind Papyrus, an Egyptian
compilation from circa 1800 BCE, deal with the seked. Upon closely examining
the text and its accompanying drawings, it becomes evident that this phrase
refers to the incline's slope—a crucial piece of information for large-scale
construction projects like the pyramids. For instance, issue 56 poses the
following question: "What is the seked of a pyramid that is 250 cubits high and
has a side of 360 cubits long?" The answer is 51/25 palms per cubit, which is
equal to the pure ratio of 18/25 as one cubit is equal to seven palms. This is
essentially the cotangent of the angle formed by the pyramid's base and face, or
the "run-to-rise" ratio of the particular pyramid.
It demonstrates that the Egyptians were at least somewhat familiar with "proto
trigonometry," or the numerical relationships found in a triangle.
The Greeks invented trigonometry in the modern sense. The first person to
create a table of values for a trigonometric function was Hipparchus, who lived
from 190 to 120 BCE. He believed that all triangles, whether spherical or
planar, were inscribed in a circle such that each side became a chord—a straight
line connecting two points on a surface or curve, as exemplified by the inscribed
triangle ABC in the illustrated image. Finding the length of each chord as a
function of the central angle that subtends it, or, conversely, the length of a
chord as a function of the corresponding arc width, is necessary to compute the
various components of the triangle. For the ensuing many centuries, this was
trigonometry's main application. As an astronomer, Hipparchus was conversant
with the fundamental formulas of plane trigonometry, but his primary interest
was in spherical triangles, such as the hypothetical triangle created by three
stars on the celestial sphere. The trigonometric functions' current symbols were
not established until the 17th century; in Hipparchus's day, these formulas were
described in strictly geometric terms as relations between the various chords
and the angles (or arcs) that subtend them.
The Almagest by Ptolemy (c. 100–170 CE) was the first significant ancient treatise on
trigonometry to survive the Dark Ages and arrive in Europe undamaged. Not much is
known about him, but he resided in Alexandria, the intellectual hub of the Hellenistic
world. Despite writing books on mathematics, geography, and optics, Ptolemy is most
remembered for his 13-book astronomy compendium, the Almagest, which served as
the foundation for the global view held by humanity until the mid-16th century, when
Nicolaus Copernicus' heliocentric theory started to replace Ptolemy's geocentric
theory. Ptolemy had to employ some basic trigonometry to create this world image,
which revolved around a fixed Earth and the motion of the Sun, Moon, and the five
known planets in circular orbits.
The creation of a chord table, which gives the length of a chord in a circle as a
function of the central angle that subtends it, is covered in Chapters 10 and 11 of the
Almagest's first book. The angles covered range from 0° to 180° at intervals of half a
degree. By observing the radius r, the arc A, and the length of the subtended chord c,
one can determine that this is just a table of sines, as in c = 2r sin A/2. Ptolemy
performed his calculations using a normal circle with radius r = 60 units because he
was using the Babylonian sexagesimal numbers and numeral systems (base 60). This
resulted in c = 120 sin A/2. This meant that, excluding the proportionality factor 120,
the table showed numbers for sin A/2 and, consequently, for sin A (by doubling the
arc). Ptolemy enhanced Hipparchus's model of the motions of the heavenly bodies and
improved geodetic measurements of the world with the aid of his table.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Arab and Jewish academics in Spain, Mesopotamia, and
Persia kept the light of knowledge burning while Europe fell into darkness. Around
860, Ḥabash al-Ḥāsib, often known as "the Calculator," created the first table of
tangents and cotangents. He wrote about astronomy and astronomical instruments. A
different Arab astronomer, al-Bāttāni (c. 858–929), provided a formula for calculating
the Sun's elevation (θ) above the horizon, which is expressed in terms of the shadow
length (s) cast by a vertical gnomon with a height of h. (See sundial for further
information on the gnomon and timekeeping.) s = h sin (90° − θ)/sin θ, Al-Bāttāni's
rule, is equal to s = h cot θ. He created a "table of shadows," or more accurately, a
table of cotangents, for every degree between 1° and 90° based on this concept.
Europe first learned about the Hindu half-chord function, which is comparable to the
contemporary sine, thanks to al-Bāttāni's writings.
Passage to Europe
Because astronomy dominated the natural sciences until the 16th century,
spherical trigonometry was the subject of most interest to academics. Book 1 of
Menelaus of Alexandria's (c. 100 CE) Sphaerica, a three-book work in which he
formulated the spherical counterparts of Euclid's propositions for planar
triangles, has the earliest definition of a spherical triangle. A figure produced on
a sphere's surface by three arcs of great circles—that is, circles whose centres
coincide with the sphere's center—was referred to as a spherical triangle. Planar
and spherical triangles differ from one another in a few keyways. For example,
two spherical triangles with equal angles in pairs are congruent (identical in
both size and shape), whereas they are only similar (identical in shape) in the
planar situation. In addition, the sum of the angles in a spherical triangle is
always higher than 180°, as opposed to the planar situation, in which the angles
are always exactly 180°. Arab academics, like Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (1201-74)
and al-Bāttāni, advanced spherical trigonometry to its current form. Ṭūsī was
the first (about 1250) to compose a treatise on trigonometry independent of
astronomy. However, the first contemporary book devoted fully to
trigonometry was published in the Bavarian city of Nürnberg in 1533 with the
title On Triangles of Every Kind. It was written by the astronomer
Regiomontanus (1436-76). On Triangles contains all of the theorems required to
solve triangles, both planar and spherical—though these theorems are expressed
verbally because symbolic algebra had not yet been established. The law of
sines, in particular, is expressed in a very modern manner. Future generations of
scientists loved On Triangles; the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
studied it extensively, and his annotated copy still exists. In 1614, Scottish
mathematician John Napier invented logarithms, which marked the final
important development in classical trigonometry. His logarithm tables
revolutionised numerical computing, including the production of trigonometry
tables, and were regarded as one of science's greatest contributions.
Conclusion
Trigonometry has a millennia-long history, beginning with ancient civilizations
and continuing to play an important part in modern science and industry.
Trigonometry has played an important role in sciences such as astronomy,
navigation, and engineering, dating back to the Greeks and Islamic scholars.
Refrences:
Taken from Brittanica.com, trigonometry
Taken from Utahuniversity digital exhibits, brief history of Trigonometry
Taken from Aikquam.com , an article about
Al Battani
Taken from an articlle about John Napier from Brittanica.com
Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.
Alternative Proxies: