Practical Astronomy with your Calculator

by Peter Duffett-Smith

In its first two editions, Practical Astronomy With Your Calculator enjoyed tremendous success. Using clear and logical

Genres: Astronomy, Reference, Science, Nonfiction, Mathematics

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strictly speaking, not a book to read through but to work through. I have had my copy of the first edition since the early 70s and have used the calculations for rise/set and position material. I think there are some errors in the text of the original, but it is still excellent. I have ported some of the material into spreadsheets for easier use, which is fine if you just want to know roughly where the Sun, Moon and plaets are in the sky, but nto very useful for any precise work. That info is available elsewhere anyway, so today I like this basically just as a hobby to see how accurate I can get it.

[Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have calculator, will play. Like astronomy?
This book shows you how to calculate time, space, positions of planets and more on your programmable handheld calculator and/or using spreadsheets. Now how cool is that?
I have fond memories of using the algos once in the mid-90's to find a missing point-target ground reference (used for calibrating satellites)...invaluable! Unfortunately, or I spilled coffee on my original copy...and my HP 42S grew into a 48Gx and is now a TI-nSpire...crazy fun which the author seems to get, and then some!

Fortunately for us, Mr. Duffett-Smith continues to revise and release more refined versions.

Targeted audience, invaluable resource.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for analyzing movements and orbits of comets, binary stars, eclipses, and planets. Excellent for the dedicated amateur. Need understand nothing more than high school trig and algebra to get the math in this book.