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 · 59r

Facsimile

horizontis medium parallelum BD in axe mundi, ut in signo E, perpetua illa series aequabiliter crescentium et decrescentium dierum atque noctium constare et conservari potest, quia triangula GET et VEK non solum similia sunt, sed et aequalia, et intercipiunt aequalia parallelorum a medio aequaliter distantium segmenta, ut GT et VR, et reliqua deinceps similiter.

Accedit hoc etiam Alia ratio sumpta a defectibus Lunae i. m. W quod Lunae eclipses non iuxta quamlibet caeli partem fieri possent in opposito loco Solis, cum saepe terra inter haec duo lumina non in diametrali ipsorum positu, sed in spaciis minoribus semicirculo media interveniret.

σχόλιον. Esto enim centrum mundi A, et super eo descriptus circulus per media signa BCDEF, in cuius plano Luna deficiens Soli obiiciatur. Si terra igitur non possidet medium locum mundi A, sed extra sedem habet, ut in G, non semper deficiet Luna in diametrali positu Solis. Acta enim per G