Hipparchus Research Paper

Hipparchus was an original mathematical genius; his distinctive, discoveries were pertinent in early history of science and math. Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered trigonometry which derives from the Greek words trigonon “triangle” and metron “to measure”. Even though there were signs that the Egyptians used different ratio signs there was never proof they thought in terms of angles. Hipparchus spent a lifetime observing astronomy, which led to most of his discoveries. In order to make the mathematical computations required by attempting to measure the distances of the moon and sun from earth by observing eclipses, it was necessary for Hipparchus to know the ratios of the sides of a right triangle. In order to solve these problems he worked out tables of the sine function, thus becoming, in effect, the founder of trigonometry.
Trigonometry aided Hipparchus in his most …show more content…
One way trigonometry is used is navigation. In the twenty-first century it is used as a Global Positioning System (GPS). The second use of trigonometry is surveying. Triangulation has been used for surveying since the sixteenth century. How it works, the surveyor marks two positions and measures the distance between them. Angles are measured between each of these two positions and a third landmark. These measurements are typically used to determine property boundaries. The third is Harmonic Motion which repeatedly cycles through the same set of positions. One examples is ignoring friction, it includes the vibration of a string, the motion of a pendulum, and the voltage of household electricity. Lastly it can be used to solve forces. Forces are represented by vectors because they have both magnitude and direction. Trigonometry can be used to solve for forces by considering the lengths of the vectors to be the magnitude of the associated force and the angles to come from the direction in which the forces are being