Ok, so according to Wikipedia:
The spherical law of sines was discovered by the 10th century Persian mathematician Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī, whereas the plane law of sines was discovered by the 13th century Persian mathematician Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī.
First, what's up with that? The plane law of sines is taught in every high school geometry class, and spherical geometry is something that most people never encounter in their lives... how was it discovered 300 years earlier?
Second, I'm totally curious about how a 10th century Persian dude did spherical trigonometry research... My imagination gives me images of cutting-edge researchers clambering over giant stone spheres, making marks on strings and calling out numbers to scribes lined up against the wall.
Third, why am I, an ostensibly well-educated engineering type, struggling at 3am on a Saturday night with geometry of the triangle? Well, if it gets published, I guess you'll find out. Hehe.
Anyway, this is getting kinda frustrating so I poured myself a Guinness. I'm going to bed when I get to the bottom of either the geometry problem or the beer, whichever comes first.
2 comments:
Ok, just sit down for a minute and take another look at this. First the first part. Then think about the second part. Right? So, what do you think about it now?
(Did that help?)
drink faster.
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