Linear interpolation has been used since antiquity for filling the gaps in tables. Suppose that one has a table listing the population of some country in 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000, and that one wanted to estimate the population in 1994. Linear interpolation is an easy way to do this. The technique of using linear interpolation for tabulation was believed to be used by Babylonian astronomers and mathematicians in Seleucid Mesopotamia (last three centuries BC), and by the Greek astronomer and mathematician, Hipparchus (2nd century BC). A description of linear interpolation can be found in the ancient Chinese mathematical text called "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" (九章算術), dated from 200 BC to AD 100 and the "Almagest" (2nd century AD) by Ptolemy.