Mathematical Treasure: Thomas Simpson’s Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical

Thomas Simpson (1710–1761) was a self-taught mathematics teacher who is remembered today for his textbooks and for his work on integration and on probability theory. His volume on trigonometry was published in 1748 and went through many editions over the next several decades.

The first page of the text:

Simpson provided tables enumerating the cases of right-angled and oblique triangles.

A full digitization of the copy owned by Ghent University is available in GoogleBooks.

The first American edition of Simpson’s Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical, was published in United States in 1810. The American editor noted that he made a number of revisions.

A full digitization of the copy credited to the University of Michigan may be viewed in HathiTrust.

Index to Mathematical Treasures