I spend my hour and a half reading articles upon articles about Euclid. There were so many concepts and ideas placed in these articles that I couldn't figure out what was true and what were rumors. Below is the information that I gathered about Euclid. Most of the facts and ideas seem to be true since I found them on more than one site, but since there are so many rumors out there, some of these might be rumors.
Who is Euclid?
"Father of Geometry"
Not too much is known about Euclid's early life. He was born around 330 B.C. in Alexandria. Euclid's life has been confused with the life of another Euclid, therefore it makes it difficult to believe any of the trustworthy information about this mathematician.
Euclid's Career
He is known as the "Father of Geometry" for a reason. He discovered the gave and really gave it its form. Euclid spent most of his time at the Alexandria library where he did most of his studies and thinking. He started his studies focusing on geometry. " He began developing his theorems and collated it into a colossal treatise called "The Elements"." "The Elements" sold more copies then the Bible and was used numerous times by mathematicians and publishers. There was no end to Euclid's geometry, and he continued to develop many different theories and theorems based on numbers, basic arithmetic, etc. "The Elements" was the first kind of geometry that people of the modern era developed.
Axioms
"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 axioms needed to be proved by proofs. Next, he started to develop logical evidences that would stand against his axioms.
Euclid has a lot of other work as well. He has a wide range of other works actually that are still used and referred to this day. These other works were positions backed with solid proofs.
Death and Legacy
Mankind doesn't know when or why Euclid died. I is said that he might have passed away around 260 B.C.His books, theorems, axioms, and proofs are still used to this day. He left behind a legacy that would be used in mathematics for a numerous amount of years.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194880/Euclid
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid
clear, coherent, complete: + Fine overview.
ReplyDeletecontent: axioms don't need to be proved, but they are necessary as a startign point for proofs.
consolidated: Think about how to summarize. One framework to use to summarize is answer one or more of: what? (important bits) so what? (why important) or now what? (what's next).