Wrong I removed this from the article This is not only informal it is wrong Wrong because Newton by employing three orbital points positions for any planet obtained from John Flamsteed See David H and Stephen P H Clark Newton s Tyranny The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed W H Freeman and Co 2001 could produce an equation describing the motion of its orbit This was true all except for the two outermost planets known then whose orbits even today have to be constantly updated I don t see how this makes the statement that preceded it wrong