Synopsis
Often called the Father of Geometry, Euclid was a Greek mathematician living during the reign of Ptolemy I around 300 BC. Within his foundational textbook "Elements," Euclid presents the results of earlier mathematicians and includes many of his own theories in a systematic, concise book that utilized meticulous proofs and a brief set of axioms to solidify his deductions. In addition to its easily referenced geometry, "Elements" also includes number theory and other mathematical considerations. For 23 centuries, this work was the primary textbook of mathematics, containing the only possible geometry known by mathematicians until the late 19th century. Today, Euclid's "Elements" is acknowledged as one of the most influential mathematical texts in history. This volume includes all thirteen books of Euclid's "Elements" and is translated by Thomas Heath.
Présentation de l'éditeur
Euclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt circa 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates (axioms), propositions (theorems and constructions), and mathematical proofs of the propositions. The books cover Euclidean geometry and the ancient Greek version of elementary number theory. The work also includes an algebraic system that has become known as geometric algebra, which is powerful enough to solve many algebraic problems, including the problem of finding the square root of a number. Elements is the second-oldest extant Greek mathematical treatise after Autolycus' On the Moving Sphere, and it is the oldest extant axiomatic deductive treatment of mathematics. It has proven instrumental in the development of logic and modern science. According to Proclus, the term "element" was used to describe a theorem that is all-pervading and helps furnishing proofs of many other theorems. The word 'element' in the Greek language is the same as 'letter'. This suggests that theorems in the Elements should be seen as standing in the same relation to geometry as letters to language. Later commentators give a slightly different meaning to the term element, emphasizing how the propositions have progressed in small steps, and continued to build on previous propositions in a well-defined order.
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