Some remarks on Bürgi’s interpolations

Denis Roegel (1)

1 MOSEL - Proof-oriented development of computer-based systems

Jost Bürgi (1552-1632) was one of the first ones to have used the calculus of differences in order to construct a table of sines. His table of sines at 2'' intervals is lost, but in these notes, we first examine empirically (as Bürgi could have done) the influence of the number of places on the accuracy of the interpolations, and we provide two tentative interpolations for the hypothetical 2'' table.

Mots clés: Jost Bürgi; tables of sines; interpolation; calculus of differences; Prony; Babbage; cadastre

Domaines: Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]

Denis Roegel. Some remarks on Bürgi’s interpolations. 2016. ⟨hal-01316361⟩