Link to Thales' page

Thales

                 

Link to Pythagoras' page

Pythagoras

                 

Link to Zeno page

Zeno

                 

Link to Euclid page

Euclid

                 

Link to Eratosthenes' page

Eratosthenes

                 

Link to Archimedes' page

Archimedes

Euclid of Alexandria

325 BC 265 BC

Geometric thought and discoveries were brought together in a set of thirteen volumes called the Elements. Due to the survival of and superiority to other such works, the Elements is considered to be one of the greatest text books of all time. The Elements contains such topics as the theory of incommensurables and of numbers, as well as plane and solid geometry. The only other book of which more copies have been made is the Bible. As the author of this book, Euclid is thought to be the greatest mathematical teacher of all time.

The beginning of the book was dedicated to the following five geometric postulates.
  • A straight line can be drawn between any two points.
  • A straight line can be extended indefinitely.
  • A circle can be described by its centre and radius.
  • All right angles are equal to one another.
  • One and only one line can be drawn through a point parallel to a given line.

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