It is often said that epicycles, a fundamental mathematical tool of the Ptolemaic planetary model, which I was always taught were as primitive, obsolete and embarassing as the conception of our solar system, are nothing more and nothing less than Fourier series expansions.
I realize, with much consternation, that this is true, but the question arises:
Has anybody done the calculations and got that Fourier series for Kepler orbits do agree with the epicycle description? I don’t like the idea of trying to parse a two thousand year old orbit prediction table from some Greek guy…