Sie sind auf Seite 1von 2

History of Trigonometry

The first trigonometric table was apparently compiled by Hipparchus, who is


now consequently known as "the father of trigonometry.
Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian Mathematics lacked the concept of an angle
measure, but they studied the ratios of the sides of similar triangles and
discovered some properties of these ratios. The ancient Greeks transformed
trigonometry into an ordered science.
Ancient Greek mathematicians such as Euclid and Archimedes studied the
properties of the chord of an angle and proved theorems that are equivalent
to modern trigonometric formulae, although they presented them
geometrically rather than algebraically.
Claudius Ptolemy expanded upon Hipparchus ' Chords in a Circle in his
Almagest. 17
The modern sine function was first defined in the Surya Siddhanta, and its
properties were further documented by the 5th century Indian mathematician
and astronomer Aryabhatta.
These Greek and Indian works were translated and expanded by medieval
Islamic mathematicians.
By the 10th century, Islamic mathematicians were using all six trigonometric
functions, had tabulated their values, and were applying them to problems in
spherical geometry .
At about the same time, Chinese mathematicians developed trigonometry
independently, although it was not a major field of study for them.
Knowledge of trigonometric functions and methods reached Europe via Latin
translations of the works of Persian and Arabic astronomers such as Al Battani
and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.
One of the earliest works on trigonometry by a European mathematician is
De Triangulis by the 15th century German mathematician Regiomontanus.
Trigonometry was still so little known in 16th century Europe that Nicolaus
Copernicus devoted two chapters of De revolutionibus orbium celestial to
explaining its basic concepts.
The history of trigonometry dates back to the early ages of Egypt and
Babylon . Angles were then measured in degrees. History of trigonometry was
then advanced by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus who compiled a
trigonometry table that measured the length of the chord subtending the
various angles in a circle of a fixed radius r. This was done in increasing
degrees of 71.
In the 5th century, Ptolemy took this further by creating the table of chords
with increasing 1 degree. This was known as Menelaus's theorem which
formed the foundation of trigonometry studies for the next 3 centuries.
Around the same period, Indian mathematicians created the trigonometry

system based on the sine function instead of the chords. Note that this was
not seen to be ratio but rather the opposite of the angle in a right angle of
fixed hypotenuse. The history of trigonometry also included Muslim
astronomers who compiled both the studies of the Greeks and Indians.
In the 13th century, the Germans fathered modern trigonometry by defining
trigonometry functions as ratios rather than lengths of lines. After the
discovery of logarithms by the Swedish astronomer, the history of
trigonometry took another bold step with Isaac Newton. He founded
differential and integral calculus. Euler used complex numbers to explain
trigonometry functions and this is seen in the formation of the Euler's
formula.

Notes
Trigonometry deals with the study of angles, triangles, and trigonometric
functions. Taken from the Greek words trigonon (triangle) and metria
(measure), the word literally means triangle measurement and the term
came into use in the 17th centurythe period when trigonometry, as an
analytic science, started; but its real origins lie in the ancient Egyptian
pyramids and Babylonian astronomy that date back to about 3000 BCE.

It is the Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus of Nicaea in


Bithynia (190 BCE - 120 BCE) that is often considered as the founder of the
science of trigonometry. According to the Greek scholar Theon of Alexandria
(335 CE 405 CE), Hipparchus compiled a table of chords in a circle (a
trigonometric table) in 12 books.

Regarding the six trigonometric functions: Aryabhata (476 CE - 550 CE)


discovered the sine and cosine; Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizimi (780 CE 850 CE) discovered the tangent; Abu al-Wafa Buzjani (940 CE - 988 CE)
discovered the secant, cotangent, and cosecant.
Albert Girard (1595-1632), a French mathematician, was the first to use the
abbreviations sin, cos, and tan in a treatise.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen