Re: How Were Those Tables Computed?

Robert Israel <israel@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>qquito <qqu...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>Before the computer/calculator age, people used trigonometric,
>>logarithmic tables. For instance, to find out sin(38.52 deg)=?, you had
>>to use such a table. There were of courses tables of many other
>>functions. And there were slide rules to use, but the precision was
>>low. The logarithmic table, on the other hand, could provide 7 digits
>>after the decimal points.
>>
>>Now the questions: (1) What formulas were used for the computation of
>>the values in those tables? (2) Were the computation done manually by
>>some hard-working mathematicians? Or by some adding machine?
>
> See e.g.
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generating_trigonometric_tables>
> <http://www.philsoc.org/2001Spring/2132transcript.html>
> <http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/85.707573>
> <http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/85.887989>

See also the book Computing Before Computers
which is freely available online at
http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/CBC.html

A brief glance at the index seems to indicate that this book
omits mention of the numerical sieving machines devised for
number theoretical purposes, such as that of Carissan,
and the bicycle-chain and photoelectric sieves of Lehmer.

--Bill Dubuque
.

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