Euclid

Revision as of 12:59, 11 August 2008 by Rrusczyk (talk | contribs)
This is an AoPSWiki Word of the Week for October 8-October 14

Euclid (also referred to as Euclid of Alexandria) (Greek: Εὐκλείδης) (c. 325–c. 265 BC) was a Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria in Hellenistic Egypt, and almost certainly during the reign of Ptolemy I (323 BC–283 BC), is often considered to be the "father of geometry". Very little biographical information is known about Euclid.

Euclid's Elements

Main article: Euclid's Elements

Euclid's most popular work, Elements, is thought to be one of the most successful textbooks in the history of mathematics. It is divided into thirteen volumes, each consisting of "common notions" (common arithmetical axioms), postulates (geometrical axioms), and "propositions", or theorems. Several propositions in fact should have been either common notions or postulates, as some of Euclid's methods of proof were faulty.


Results Attributed to Euclid

There are many results still attributed to or named after Euclid in use today. They include:

This article is a stub. Help us out by expanding it.