Epicycle vs Equant - What's the difference?
epicycle | equant |
(astronomy) A small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle; in Ptolemaic astronomy it was seen as the basis of revolution of the "seven planets", given a fixed central Earth.
*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.155:
(mathematics) Any circle whose circumference rolls around that of another circle, thus creating a hypocycloid or epicycloid.
As nouns the difference between epicycle and equant
is that epicycle is a small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle; in Ptolemaic astronomy it was seen as the basis of revolution of the "seven planets", given a fixed central Earth while equant is the center of a planetary epicycle.As an adjective equant is
having comparable measurements in all directions; equidimensional.epicycle
English
Noun
(en noun)- Is it not [Philosophie], thatteacheth miserie, famine and sicknesse to laugh? Not by reason of some imaginarie Epicicles , but by naturall and palpable reasons.