| 释义 |
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) (2nd century ad) Greek astronomer and mathematician, responsible for the most significant work of trigonometry of ancient times. Usually known by its Arabic name Almagest (‘The Greatest'), it contains, amongst other things, tables of chords, equivalent to a modern table of sines, and an account of how they were obtained. Use is made of Ptolemy's Theorem, from which the familiar addition formulae of trigonometry can be shown to follow.
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