Level 98 · @level98
226 followers · 1492 posts · Server mastodon.social"Des" in French means "of the: and "carte" can mean "map".
"Cartesian coordinates" are named after the French philosopher René Descartes (the coordinate system being named after the latinised version Renatus Cartesius).
It's a fun coincidence that a system of coordinates, that can be used to "map things", are named after a Frenchman whose name could be translated as "of the maps"... a case of nominative determinism? 😀
But WAIT!... 1/2
Infrapink (he/his/him) · @Infrapink
18 followers · 248 posts · Server mastodon.ieThe #SuryaSiddhanta's methods for calculating the positions of the sun and moon at times specify that the absolute value of the jya of an arc must be added to some value in some cases, and subtracted in others.
Since the jya is the predecessor to the modern sine, in this we see the earliest inklings of negative values of trigonometric functions. It's interesting how ideas develop.
#suryasiddhanta #jyotisha #trigonometry #maths #historyofmaths #mathhistory