Continuity and change : the planetary equation tables of John Vimond and Nicolaus Copernicus

We offer a survey of some significant tables for the planetary equations from Ptolemy to Erasmus Reinhold including the zij of al-Battānī, the Toledan Tables, the tables of John Vimond (ca. 1320), the Parisian Alfonsine Tables, and the tables of Copernicus, and demonstrate the continuity in their presentations as well as their divergences from the standard tables that go back to Ptolemy. Despite Copernicus's shift from geocentric to heliocentric models, the presentation of his planetary equation tables is essentially the same as that of his predecessors. Both Vimond and Copernicus modified the presentation of the equations of anomaly in the same way, but there is no evidence that Copernicus was aware of the work of his predecessor. [Publisher's text]