Definition:Trigonometry/Historical Note
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Historical Note on trigonometry
The field of trigonometry emerged in ancient Greece during the $3$rd century BCE from applications of geometry to astronomical studies.
While the Greeks focused on the calculation of chords, mathematicians in India created the earliest-known tables of values for trigonometric functions such as sine.
An analytic approach to trigonometry was introduced by Leonhard Paul Euler.
Sources
- 1972: George F. Simmons: Differential Equations ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 3$: Appendix $\text A$: Euler
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.21$: Euler ($\text {1707}$ – $\text {1783}$)