Abstract

Bianchini called Tabulae magistrales a set of eight tables he compiled to solve problems in spherical astronomy. This set, which is the object of this paper, consists of auxiliary and trigonometric functions, including the sine and the tangent functions, for radii 10,000 and 60,000, and seems to be the first set of tables in Latin specifically devoted to mathematical tools for computational astronomy. Bianchini presented some of his tables in decimal form, which meant that for the first time one of the oldest astronomical tradition, the sexagesimal base, was abandoned.