Clocks
and calendars play a central role in the early histories of
math, science, engineering and technology and they are linked
closely to observations
of the sky. The predecessors
of modern clocks include devices built by French architect, Villard
de Honnecourt, around 1250 and
by Chinese monk and mathematician, Yixing,
around 720. Both of these devices were intended to follow or
replicate the apparent motion of the Sun or Moon through the
sky.
In
this activity students take on the same task as de Honnecourt
and Yixing, but using mathematical functions rather than mechanical
gears,
shafts, locks and pins. Students begin by using ratios and
proportions to predict the motion of the Earth's Moon among
the constellations, comparing and contrasting the measurement
systems used by 13th Century Europeans like de Honnecourt and
by the 8th century Buddhist, Yixing. More advanced students
could even replicate the much more complex motion of Mars and
other
planets.
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