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- Title
CLAVIUS, PITISCUS Y LA PRIMERA DEMOSTRACIÓN DEL TEOREMA DEL COSENO PARA LOS LAI)OS DE UN TRIANGULO ESFÉRICO CUALQUIERA.
- Authors
Guerola Olivares, Joaquim
- Abstract
The resolution of spherical triangles was an essential tool for solving astronomical problems identified by ancient mathematicians. Over hundreds of years, the resolution of such problems was facilitated by the theorems that were being enunciated and proven, ofwhich Menelao's theorem was the first. Islamic mathematicians played an important role in their development throughout the Middle Ages. It was Regiomontanus who structured and introduced in the West all the knowledge related to the resolution of spherical triangles that existed until then. Among the results he presents is the cosine theorem for the sides of any spherical triangle. However, neither him nor any previous known author provide irs proof. In the sixteenth century there were many mathematicians who dealt with the resolution of plane and spherical triangles and deduced new results that contributed to completing and perfecting the body of doctrine of trigonometry. One of them is Clavius, who tries to present the proof of all the statements he exposes, including those related to the resolution of triangles; among these is the cosine theorem, which he tried to prove for many years, without succeeding. It was the Silesian mathematician Bartolomaeus Pitiscus, introducer of the word trigonometry, who presented for the first time the proof of the theorem in 1595. In this work, the evolution of the cosine theorem over the Middle Ages is concisely shown and its proof by Pitiscus is presented.
- Subjects
CLAVIUS, Christoph, 1538-1612; ANCIENT mathematics; MATHEMATICIANS; MIDDLE Ages; TRIGONOMETRY
- Publication
Llull: Revista de la Sociedad Espanola de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Tecnicas, 2022, Vol 45, Issue 91, p15
- ISSN
0210-8615
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.47101/llull.2022.45.91.