Euclid

Euclid of ‘Alexandria’ was born around 330 B.C, presumably at Alexandria.

Certain Arabian authors assume that Euclid was born to a wealthy family to ‘Naucrates’.

It is said that Euclid was possibly born in Tyre and lived the rest of his life in Damascus.

There have been certain documents that suggest that Euclid studied in Plato’s ancient school in Athens, where only the opulent studied.

He later shifted to Alexandria in Egypt, where he discovered a well-known division of mathematics, known as ‘geometry’.

Euclid was known as the ‘father of geometry’ for a reason.

He discovered the subject and gave it its value, making it one of the most complex forms of mathematics at the time.

After moving to Alexandria, Euclid spent most of his time at the Alexandria library, like many other eminent scholars who spent their time there wisely.

The museum was built by Ptolemy, which was central to literature, arts and sciences.

It was here that Euclid began developing geometrical ideas, arithmetic’s, theories and irrational numbers into a section called “geometry”. He began developing his theorems and collated it into a colossal treatise called ‘The Elements’.

During the course of his vaguely known career, he developed 13 editions to the ‘Elements’ that covered a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from axioms and statements to solid geometry and algorithm concepts.

Along with stating these various theories, he began backing these ideas with methods and logical proof that would approve of the statements produced by Euclid.

Euclid stated that axioms were statements that were just believed to be true, but he realized that by blindly following statements, there would be no point in devising mathematical theories and formulae.

He realized that even axioms had to be backed with solid proofs. Therefore, he started to develop logical evidences that would testify his axioms and theorems in geometry. In order to further understand these axioms, he divided them into groups of two called ‘postulates’.

One group would be called the ‘common notions’ which were agreed statements of science. His second set of postulates was synonymous with geometry. The first set of notions mentioned statements such as the “whole is greater than the part” and “things which are equal to the same thing are also equal to one another”.

These are only two of the five statements written by Euclid.

The remaining five statements in the second set of postulates are a little more specific to the subject of Geometry and state theories such as “All right angle are equal” and “straight lines can be drawn between any two points”.

Four lost works in geometry are described in Greek sources and attributed to Euclid.

The purpose of the Pseudaria (“Fallacies”), says Proclus, was to distinguish and to warn beginners against different types of fallacies to which they might be susceptible in geometrical reasoning.

According to Pappus, the Porisms (“Corollaries”), in three books, contained 171 propositions.

Michel Chasles (1793–1880) conjectured that the work contained propositions belonging to the modern theory of transversals and to projective geometry.

Like the fate of earlier “Elements,” Euclid’s Conics, in four books, was supplanted by a more thorough book on the conic sections with the same title written by Apollonius of Perga. Pappus also mentioned the Surface-loci (in two books), whose subject can only be inferred from the title.