'Full of academic, textbook content, the book is a delight to math students. 'A no-nonsense introduction to spherical trigonometry.'- Book News, Inc. I freely recommend it to math teachers and curious high schoolers.'-Alexander Bogomolny, CTK Insights The book made a valuable addition to my library. Chapters end with exercises the appendices contain a long list of available and not so available textbooks and recommendations for further reading organized by individual chapters. The book is thoroughly illustrated and is a pleasant read.

There are also chapters on spherical geometry, polyhedra, stereographic projection and the art of navigation. Although not a history book, there are separate chapters shedding light on the approaches to the subject in the ancient, medieval, and modern times. 'The present book is very well written it leaves a clear impression that the author intended to endear-not merely present and teach-spherical trigonometry to the reader. Here, Glen Van Brummelen reasserts the field's importance, sharing in illuminating detail how it figured in astronomy, cartography and our understanding of Earth's rotation.'-Rosalind Metcalfe, Nature 'Once a mainstay of mathematics, spherical trigonometry no longer appears on school curricula. This unique compendium also features easy-to-use appendixes as well as exercises that originally appeared in textbooks from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Heavenly Mathematics is illustrated throughout with stunning historical images and informative drawings and diagrams. He conveys the sheer beauty of spherical trigonometry, providing readers with a new appreciation of its elegant proofs and often surprising conclusions.

Glen Van Brummelen explores this exquisite branch of mathematics and its role in ancient astronomy, geography, and cartography Islamic religious rituals celestial navigation polyhedra stereographic projection and more. Once at the heart of astronomy and ocean-going navigation for two millennia, the discipline was also a mainstay of mathematics education for centuries and taught widely until the 1950s. Heavenly Mathematics traces the rich history of spherical trigonometry, revealing how the cultures of classical Greece, medieval Islam, and the modern West used this forgotten art to chart the heavens and the Earth.

Glen van brummelen