Galileo

Galileo

August 4, 2014

Mathematics is the Language with which God has created the Universe


Galileo was most known for his discoveries about planetary motion that led to him being placed under house arrest and the popular story that he dropped different objects out of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to prove that they fell at the same rate regardless of weight. In an era where every publication and belief was controlled by the church, it was difficult for him to get any of his theories on gravitational motion in the universe to be published. He didn't invent the telescope, but he did take the telescopes that they had at the time and increase the power from a 3x magnification to a 32x magnification, which was enough to document sunspots and four of Jupiter's moons.

If Galileo increased the magnification from 3x to 32x, by what percent did he improve the telescope's magnification?