CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY

~was an astronomer and mathematician. He

believed that the Earth was the center of the
Universe. The word for earth in Greek is geo, so
we call this idea a "geocentric" theory.

+_+ PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM

~ The astronomical system of Ptolemy, in which
the earth is at the center of the universe with the
sun, moon, planets, and stars revolving about it
in circular orbits at increasing distance. Some of
the orbits have epicycles.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~In order to explain the motion of the
planets, Ptolemy combined eccentricity with an
epicyclic model. In the Ptolemaic system each
planet revolves uniformly along a circular path
(epicycle), the center of which revolves around
the Earth along a larger circular path (deferent).

~We know very little of Ptolemy's life. His name,

Claudius Ptolemy, is of course a mixture of the
Greek Egyptian "Ptolemy" and the Roman
"Claudius". This would indicate that he was
descended from a Greek family living in Egypt
and that he was a citizen of Rome.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~Ptolemy definitely made astronomical observations from
Alexandria in Egypt during the years from 127 to 141. We
suspect his teacher was Theon of Smyrna, who was both an
observer and a mathematician who had written on
astronomical topics such as conjunctions, eclipses,
occultations and transits.

~ The earliest, and perhaps most important of Ptolemy's

work that has survived is the Almagest, a treatise in 13
books. It gives in detail the mathematical theory of the
motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Ptolemy made his
most original contribution by presenting details for the
motions of each of the planets. His theories were not
superseded until a century after Copernicus presented his
heliocentric theory in 1543.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~Ptolemy first of all justifies his description of the
universe based on the earth-centered system
described by Aristotle. It is a view of the world based
on a fixed earth around which the sphere of the fixed
stars rotates every day, this carrying with it the
spheres of the sun, moon, and planets. Ptolemy used
geometric models to predict the positions of the sun,
moon, and planets, using combinations of circular
motion known as epicycles. Having set up this model,
Ptolemy then goes on to describe the mathematics
which he needs in the rest of the work. In particular he
introduces trigonometrical methods based on the
chord function.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~Ptolemy devised new geometrical proofs and theorems. He
obtained, using chords of a circle and an inscribed 360-gon,
the approximation π = 3 + 17/120 = 3.14166. He used
formulas for the chord function which are analogous to our
formulas for sin(a+b), sin(a-b) and sin(a/2) to create a table
of the chord function at intervals of 1/2 a degree. This
occupies the first 2 of the 13 books.

~ Based on his observations of solstices and equinoxes,

Ptolemy then found the lengths of the seasons and, based on
these, he proposed a simple model for the sun which was a
circular motion of uniform angular velocity, but the earth was
not at the center of the circle but at a distance called the
eccentricity from this center. This theory of the sun forms the
subject of Book 3.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~In Books 4 through 6, Ptolemy gives his theory of the
moon. In Book 4 Ptolemy gives Hipparchus's epicycle
model for the motion of the moon, but he notes that
there are small discrepancies between the model and
the observed parameters. In Book 5 he gives a model
which improves markedly on the one proposed by
Hipparchus. In book 6 he puts forth a theory of
eclipses.

~The next 2 books deal with the fixed stars, justifying his
belief that the fixed stars always maintain the same positions
relative to each other. He also discusses precession, and
gives a star catalogue containing over 1000 stars.
 CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
~The final 5 books of the Almagest discuss planetary theory. .
This is Ptolemy's greatest achievement in terms of an .
original contribution. Ptolemy combined the epicycle and .
eccentric methods to give his model for the motions of the .
planets. This theory is a masterpiece. He created a
-------- sophisticated mathematical model to fit observational data, .
which before Ptolemy's time was scarce, and the model he .
produced, although complicated, represents the motions of .
the planets fairly well.
~Ptolemy published a major work Geography, written in 8 books, which attempts to map the
known world giving coordinates of the major places in terms of latitude and longitude. It is not
surprising that the maps given by Ptolemy were quite inaccurate. Another work on optics is in 5
books. In it Ptolemy studies color, reflection, refraction, and mirrors of various shapes. Ptolemy
also wrote a popular account of his results for those knowing less mathematics, a book on
astrology, a book on the construction of sundials, and a book about the stereographic projection of
the celestial sphere onto a plane.
 CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY

~Because of systematic errors in his works, Ptolemy is accused by some of just correcting
Hipparchus' data for precession. Indeed there is some evidence that Ptolemy is guilty of
stealing and fabricating data. But he is still one of the most influential Greek astronomers
and geographers of his time.
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