Information AboutEuclid |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT EUCLID | |
| ancient greek mathematicians | |
| hellenistic egyptians | |
| geometers | |
| 4th century bc births | |
| 3rd century bc deaths | |
| number theory | |
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Euclid of Alexandria (– 265 BC ) was a Hellenistic Mathematician who lived in Alexandria , Egypt almost certainly during the reign of Ptolemy I ( 323 BC – 283 BC ). Often considered as the "father of Geometry ", his most popular work is '' Elements '', which is often considered to be one of the most successful Textbook s in the History Of Mathematics . Within it, the properties of Geometrical objects are deduced from a small set of Axiom s, thereby anticipating (and partly inspiring) the Axiomatic Method of modern Mathematics . Although best-known for its geometric results, the ''Elements'' also includes various results in Number Theory , such as the connection between Perfect Numbers and Mersenne Primes . Euclid also wrote works on Perspective , Conic Section s, Spherical Geometry , and possibly Quadric Surfaces . Neither the year nor place of his birth have been established, nor the circumstances of his death. ''THE ELEMENTS'' See Also: Euclid's Elements Although many of the results in ''Elements'' originated with earlier mathematicians, one of Euclid's accomplishments was to present them in a single, logically coherent framework. In addition to providing some missing Proof s, Euclid's text also includes sections on Number Theory and Three-dimensional Geometry . In particular, Euclid's proof of the infinitude of Prime Number s is in Book IX, Proposition 20. The geometrical system described in ''Elements'' was long known simply as "the" geometry. Today, however, it is often referred to as Euclidean Geometry to distinguish it from other so-called ''non-Euclidean'' Geometries which were discovered in the 19th Century . These new geometries grew out of more than two Millennia of investigation into Euclid's Fifth Postulate , one of the most-studied Axiom s in all of mathematics. Most of these investigations involved attempts to prove the relatively complex and presumably non-intuitive fifth postulate using the other four (a feat which, if successful, would have shown the postulate to be in fact a Theorem ). OTHER WORKS In addition to the ''Elements'', four works of Euclid have survived to the present day.
All of these works follow the basic logical structure of the ''Elements'', containing definitions and proved propositions. There are four works credibly attributed to Euclid which have been lost.
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES Almost nothing is known about Euclid outside of what is presented in ''Elements'' and his few other surviving books. What little biographical information we do have comes largely from commentaries by and may have studied at Plato 's Academe in Greece , but his exact lifespan and place of birth are unknown. In the Middle Ages , writers sometimes referred to him as '' Euclid Of Megara '', confusing him with a Greek Socratic Philosopher who lived approximately one century earlier. REFERENCES
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