Essays on medieval computational astronomy / / by José Chabás, Bernard R. Goldstein.

• Superior document: Time, Astronomy, and Calendars, Volume 5
• VerfasserIn: Chabás, José, 1948-; Goldstein, Bernard R.,
• TeilnehmendeR: Goldstein, Bernard R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : Brill,, 2015.; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Time, astronomy, and calendars ; Volume 5.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (421 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Front Matter /; Introduction /; Nicholaus de Heybech and His Table for Finding True Syzygy /; Computational Astronomy: Five Centuries of Finding True Syzygy /; Transmission of Computational Methods within the Alfonsine Corpus: The Case of the Tables of Nicholaus de Heybech /; Ptolemy, Bianchini, and Copernicus: Tables for Planetary Latitudes /; Displaced Tables in Latin: The Tables for the Seven Planets for 1340 /; Computing Planetary Positions: User-Friendliness and the Alfonsine Corpus /; Andalusian Astronomy: al-Zīj al-Muqtabis of Ibn al-Kammād /; Early Alfonsine Astronomy in Paris: The Tables of John Vimond (1320) /; John of Murs’s Tables of 1321 /; Isaac Ibn al-Ḥadib and Flavius Mithridates: The Diffusion of an Iberian Astronomical Tradition in the Late Middle Ages /; Ibn al-Kammād’s Star List /; Astronomical Activity in Portugal in the Fourteenth Century /; Index /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.
• ISBN: 9004281754
• ISSN: 2211-632X
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by José Chabás, Bernard R. Goldstein.

During the Middle Ages and early modern times tables were a most successful and economical way to present mathematical procedures and astronomical models and to facilitate computations. Before the sixteenth century astronomical models introduced by Ptolemy in Antiquity were rarely challenged, and innovation consisted in elaborating new methods for calculating planetary positions and other celestial phenomena. Essays on Medieval Computational Astronomy includes twelve articles that focus on astronomical tables, offering many examples where the meaning and purpose of such tables has been determined by careful analysis. In evaluating the work of medieval scholars we are mindful of the importance of applying criteria consistent with their own time, which may be different from those appropriate for other periods.