PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

_ (the underscore) is the placeholder for exactly one character.
% (the percent sign) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character.
%% (two percent signs) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character, but not for blank space (so that a search ends at word boundaries).

At the beginning and at the end, these placeholders are superfluous.

Ptolemy, Almagesti (tr. Erasmus Reinhold)

Wittenberg, Johannes Lufft, 1549 · 109r

Facsimile

Tabula xviii. modorum necessarium

Manifeste autem apparet ex hac tabella quod ratio primae magnitudinis ad quartam et sextam non componatur ex reliquis duabus ratonibus, similiter nec ratio secundae ad tertiam et quintam, nec tertiae ad quintam, neque quartae ad sextam, cum reliquae tamen rationes singulae dupliciter componantur.

Nec difficile est hanc varietatem simul monstrare γραμμικῶς ex superioribus diagrammatis