math and science? When did astronomers start to understand what solar eclipses and lunar eclipses were? How complicated is the math necessary to calculate the movement of planets and future dates of eclipses? Before the computer was invented, how laborious was it to hand calculate those astronomy data? Prior to the invention of the clock and the 24-hour time format, how did astronomers measure time and express time?
2007-11-09 08:10:29 · 9 answers · asked by Howard T 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
They also gave us geometry and the distinction between rational numbers and irrational numbers.
For example, they had already proven that the square root of 2 could not be a rational number.
In astronomy, some calculations were laborious. Some Greeks were good at it, but not all. A lot of the preliminary calculations had been done by the Babylonians before them (the Babylonians are the ones who gave us divisions by 60, as in hours, minutes and seconds).
The Greeks and the Egyptians also worked together on some problems. The Egyptians had a strange way fo working with fractions, using only fractions of the form 1/X -- 'one over something' -- where X could be any integer (their only exception was 2/3 which they did use).
The Egyptians needed to be able to predict astronomical events as their agriculture (and their survival) depended on it. The Egyptians had clocks so accurate that they knew about the equation of time (not all days in the year are the same length; that is because our orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle).
2007-11-09 09:59:49 · answer #1 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes, they knew the earth was round and in fact had calculated just how big it was. (look up Egypt, summer solstice and well.)
They observed the earth's shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse was rounded. That was a big clue the earth was round.
They knew that when a ship appeared in the distance, you only saw the top of it first. The explanation is that the earth is curved. (Columbus was a sailor and knew this also. Only idiots in the Church could not believe what they could see.)
As far as calculating the eclipse cycle, the lunar cycle repeats every 253 lunar months. Just record the cycle a few times and you can tell what is coming up next in the cycle.
The Greeks had elaborate clocks in the center of many of their cities. They just did not use "hands" like we think of.
The average Greek intellectual of 3000 years ago was smarter than the average person of today.
They would not be on the Internet asking stupid questions that they could look up or figure out themselves.
(Hint hint.)
2007-11-09 09:02:31 · answer #2 · answered by forgivebutdonotforget911 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I believe it was the Alexandrian astronomer Eratosthenes, he measured the diameter of the earth more than 15 centuries ago.
He knew that the shadows cast in Alexandria were different from the ones cast in Aswan, so he took a measurement deep inside a well in Aswan and another measurement of a shadow of an obelisk in Alexandria a year apart, and because he knew the distance between the two cities he could calculate the earth's diameter at 7,850 miles with a .5 margin of error.
2007-11-09 08:17:05 · answer #3 · answered by Aniatario 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm awed by Eratosthenes' genius. He was the Galileo of his day.
Could you imagine concieving the well experiment and making some measurements and being the first human to realize how huge the earth is?
Also imagine that you "know" that the sun and stars are just bright spots a couple miles up, circling the earth every day. Then you concieve another experiment, using the angle of the moon across the sun and realize, "holy c*** ", the sun is millions of miles away!" I can barely imagine how intelligent guys like Eratosthenes were to even THINK of these experiments!
2007-11-09 10:12:18 · answer #4 · answered by Hgldr 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Homework Alert!
2007-11-09 08:13:15 · answer #5 · answered by B. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Which specific ancient greek are you referring too? I can tel you about the knowledge base of the ancient GREEKS, but since you are asking about a specific greek I am lost without his name.
2007-11-09 08:13:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes they did...but they got to the fact the earth is round by saying that the most perfect form is a ball, therefore the earth is a ball.
2007-11-09 08:12:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Does anybody do their homework anymore? Read a book!
Eratosthenes, look him up.
2007-11-09 08:12:31 · answer #8 · answered by Underground Man 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
How will you ever learn if you don't do your own homework?
2007-11-09 08:14:07 · answer #9 · answered by jimstock60 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋