History
Linear interpolation has been used since antiquity for filling the gaps in tables, often with astronomical data. It is believed that it was used by Babylonian astronomers and mathematicians in Seleucid Mesopotamia (last three centuries BC), and by the Greek astronomer and mathematician, Hipparchus (2nd century BC). A description of linear interpolation can be found in the Almagest (2nd century AD) by Ptolemy.
Read more about this topic: Linear Interpolation
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“Regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized—the question involuntarily arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)