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The article deals with the mathematical practices of the Toulouse’ astronomers during 18th and 19th centuries. Computations were socially and intellectually distributed in a very precise and constant way on nearly two centuries. The astronomers employed subordinates to carry out the most ordinary and least visible calculations. At the 18th century, this division of labour was between the rich aristocrat astronomer, on one side, and the young scientists without financial resources, on the other. At the 19th century, the astronomers employed women belonging to the declining lower middle class. But, even though astronomers in the 18th and 19th century privileged the “pure” mathematics (that included complex operations), they did not neglect the more common calculations. Since they were in charge of the overall computation process related to the observations (preparing the observations, operating reductions, etc.), they read or verified the boring and less visible mathematical operations. The social division of mathematical work persists within the observatory of Toulouse, but it is marked by this constant control of common computations made by the astronomers.