The Ballet of the Planets: a Mathematician's Musings on the Elegance of Planetary Motion 9780199891009, 0199891001, 9780199891016, 019989101X, 9781280685729, 1280685727

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The Survival of the Valid; 1.1. Peer Review; 1.2. The Scientific Meth

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English Pages 193 pages Year 2012

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The Ballet of the Planets: a Mathematician's Musings on the Elegance of Planetary Motion
 9780199891009, 0199891001, 9780199891016, 019989101X, 9781280685729, 1280685727

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Survival of the Valid
1.1. Peer Review
1.2. The Scientific Method
Part One: Birth
2. The Bowl of Night
2.1. The Two-Sphere Universe
2.2. Coordinate Systems
2.3. The Sun
3. Epicycles and Relative Motion
3.1. A Mechanical Linkage
3.2. Relative Motion
4. The Deferent-Epicycle Model
4.1. Retrograde Motion
4.2. Ptolemy
4.3. The Deferent-Epicycle Model
4.4. Intimations of Numerology
4.5. The Equant
5. Making Money, Et Cetera
5.1. Epicyclic Curves as Decorative Patterns
5.2. Cycloidal Curves
Part Two: Rebirth. 6. The Reluctant Revolutionary6.1. Adjusting the Ptolemaic Theory
6.2. Copernicus
6.3. Galileo
7. Circles No More
7.1. The Ellipse
7.2. Two Pearls
7.3. Tracking Planets
8. The War with Mars
8.1. Tycho Brahe
8.2. Kepler
Part Three: Enlightenment
9. The Birth of Mechanics
9.1. Archimedes
9.2. Galileo
10. The Astronomical Alchemist
10.1. Newton's Dynamics
10.2. Rotational Dynamics
10.3. The Law of Universal Gravitation
10.4. Epilogue
A. The Greek Alphabet
B. Vectors
Notes
References
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z.

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