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  • Appendix - Mathematical details

  • Todd Timberlake, Berry College, Georgia, Paul Wallace
  • Book:
    Finding our Place in the Solar System
    Published online:
    18 March 2019
    Print publication:
    28 March 2019, pp 307-336

  • Summary

    This appendix provides mathematical details to supplement the ideas presented in the main text. Topic covered include: angular measurement, apparent diameter, trigonometry, finding the Sun’s altitude from the length of a shadow, determining the relative distances of the Sun and Moon, and finding the distance to an astronomical object using parallax measurements. In addition, this appendix shows how to calculate the sizes of epicycles in the Ptolemaic theory and the periods and sizes of planetary orbits in the Copernican theory. Mathematical details are also provided for Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion, Galileo’s measurement of mountains on the Moon, Galileo’s studies of falling bodies and projectiles, Newton’s universal gravitational force, and Bradley’s theory of the aberration of starlight.