Re: Columbus, eclipse, Regiomontanus
- From: Paul J Gans <gans@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:39:55 +0000 (UTC)
a425couple <a425couple@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
try
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23073963/
Columbus, eclipse, Regiomontanus
OK, obviously I'm at least momentarily having a
gray matter disconect. Anyone care to help me out?
At Columbus time, enough learned people had done
their observations and knew the world/earth was round,
and their math correctly and knew it's size.
So he had the book, and good enough solid astro/math info
to know of eclipses ahead of time, -----
How could Columbus still been of the mistaken
belief he had reached the far east????
(when he only 1/2 way there?)
(i.e. if the math is good for one -shouldn't it be
good for both aspects?)
You are right. But estimates of how far China was from
Europe depended on traveller's estimates of how far they'd
gone.
Columbus took the largest estimates of Europe-China distance
and the smallest estimates of the diameter of the earth[1]
and got his numbers.
Why he did it that way is known only to his psychologist.
[1] The fact that the Greeks were very close in their
estimates of the diameter of the earth overlook the fact
that many other much smaller estimates existed. We moderns
have awarded the Greeks an ex post facto cleverness prize
for their work. Of course the base line they used was much
longer than any of the later ones.
--
--- Paul J. Gans
.
- References:
- Columbus, eclipse, Regiomontanus
- From: a425couple
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