Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Who is considered the founder of geometry?
Euclid (; – "Eukleídēs", ; fl. 300 BC), sometimes given the name Euclid of Alexandria to distinguish him from Euclides of Megara, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "founder of geometry" or the "father of geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). His "Elements" is one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics, serving as the main textbook for teaching mathematics (especially geometry) from the time of its publication until the late 19th or early 20th century. In the "Elements", Euclid deduced the theorems of what is now called Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Euclid also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory, and rigor.
Lemoine has been described by Nathan Altshiller Court as a co-founder (along with Henri Brocard and Joseph Neuberg) of modern triangle geometry, a term used by William Gallatly, among others. In this context, "modern" is used to refer to geometry developed from the late 18th century onward. Such geometry relies on the abstraction of figures in the plane rather than analytic methods used earlier involving specific angle measures and distances. The geometry focuses on topics such as collinearity, concurrency, and concyclicity, as they do not involve the measures listed previously.
Pythagoras, whose dates are commonly given as 569–475 BC, used algebraic methods to construct Pythagorean triples, according to Proclus's commentary on Euclid. Proclus, however, wrote between 410 and 485 AD. According to Thomas L. Heath (1861–1940), no specific attribution of the theorem to Pythagoras exists in the surviving Greek literature from the five centuries after Pythagoras lived. However, when authors such as Plutarch and Cicero attributed the theorem to Pythagoras, they did so in a way which suggests that the attribution was widely known and undoubted. "Whether this formula is rightly attributed to Pythagoras personally, [...] one can safely assume that it belongs to the very oldest period of Pythagorean mathematics."
In India, the "Baudhayana Sulba Sutra", the dates of which are given variously as between the 8th and 5th century BC, contains a list of Pythagorean triples discovered algebraically, a statement of the Pythagorean theorem, and a geometrical proof of the Pythagorean theorem for an isosceles right triangle.
The "Apastamba Sulba Sutra" (c. 600 BC) contains a numerical proof of the general Pythagorean theorem, using an area computation. Van der Waerden believed that "it was certainly based on earlier traditions". Carl Boyer states that the Pythagorean theorem in "Śulba-sũtram" may have been influenced by ancient Mesopotamian math, but there is no conclusive evidence in favor or opposition of this possibility.
With contents known much earlier, but in surviving texts dating from roughly the 1st century BC, the Chinese text "Zhoubi Suanjing" (周髀算经), ("The Arithmetical Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of Heaven") gives a reasoning for the Pythagorean theorem for the (3, 4, 5) triangle—in China it is called the "Gougu theorem" (勾股定理). During the Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD), Pythagorean triples appear in "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art", together with a mention of right triangles. Some believe the theorem arose first in China, where it is alternatively known as the "Shang Gao theorem" (商高定理), named after the Duke of Zhou's astronomer and mathematician, whose reasoning composed most of what was in the "Zhoubi Suanjing".
With Arthur Cayley, Menger is considered one of the founders of distance geometry; especially by having formalized definitions to the notions of "angle" and of "curvature" in terms of directly measurable physical quantities, namely ratios of "distance" values.
Earth's circumference lines are the foundation of the coordinate system of latitude and longitude, introduced in the mid-second century BC by Hipparchus.
Evidence for more complex mathematics does not appear until around 3000 BC, when the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, and for astronomy. The most ancient mathematical texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt are from 2000–1800 BC. Many early texts mention Pythagorean triples and so, by inference, the Pythagorean theorem seems to be the most ancient and widespread mathematical development after basic arithmetic and geometry. It is in Babylonian mathematics that elementary arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) first appear in the archaeological record. The Babylonians also possessed a place-value system, and used a sexagesimal numeral system, still in use today for measuring angles and time.
Hypatia (born 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria, where she taught philosophy and astronomy. She is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor. She is known to have written a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume "Arithmetica", which may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus's original text, and another commentary on Apollonius of Perga's treatise on conic sections, which has not survived. Many modern scholars also believe that Hypatia may have edited the surviving text of Ptolemy's "Almagest", based on the title of her father Theon's commentary on Book III of the "Almagest".
Algebra was also pioneered by Persian Scientist Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī during this time in his landmark text, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala, from which the term algebra is derived. He is thus considered to be the father of algebra. The terms algorism and algorithm are also derived from the name of al-Khwarizmi, who was responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals and Hindu-Arabic numeral system beyond the Indian Subcontinent.
Since the time of Leibniz and Newton, many mathematicians have contributed to the continuing development of calculus. One of the first and most complete works on both infinitesimal and integral calculus was written in 1748 by Maria Gaetana Agnesi.
In calculus, "foundations" refers to the rigorous development of the subject from axioms and definitions. In early calculus the use of infinitesimal quantities was thought unrigorous, and was fiercely criticized by a number of authors, most notably Michel Rolle and Bishop Berkeley. Berkeley famously described infinitesimals as the ghosts of departed quantities in his book "The Analyst" in 1734. Working out a rigorous foundation for calculus occupied mathematicians for much of the century following Newton and Leibniz, and is still to some extent an active area of research today.
There is debate whether the Pythagorean theorem was discovered once, or many times in many places, and the date of first discovery is uncertain, as is the date of the first proof. According to Joran Friberg, a historian of mathematics, evidence indicates that the Pythagorean theorem "was well-known to the mathematicians of the Old Babylonian period" (20th to 16th centuries BC), which would have been over a thousand years before Pythagoras was born. The history of the theorem can be divided into four parts: knowledge of Pythagorean triples, knowledge of the relationship among the sides of a right triangle, knowledge of the relationships among adjacent angles, and proofs of the theorem within some deductive system.
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter, a "diadochus" originally from Macedon in northern Greece who declared himself pharaoh of Egypt and created a powerful Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled an area stretching from southern Syria to Cyrene and south to Nubia. Scholars also argue that the kingdom was founded in 304 BC because of different use of calendars: Ptolemy crowned himself in 304 BC on the ancient Egyptian calendar, but in 305 BC on the ancient Macedonian calendar; to resolve the issue, the year 305/4 was counted as the first year of Ptolemaic Kingdom in Demotic papyri.
Al-Khwarizmi's popularizing treatise on algebra ("The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing", c. 813–833 CE) presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. One of his principal achievements in algebra was his demonstration of how to solve quadratic equations by completing the square, for which he provided geometric justifications. Because he was the first to treat algebra as an independent discipline and introduced the methods of "reduction" and "balancing" (the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation), he has been described as the father or founder of algebra. The term "algebra" itself comes from the title of his book (specifically the word "al-jabr" meaning "completion" or "rejoining"). His name gave rise to the terms "algorism" and "algorithm". His name is also the origin of (Spanish) "guarismo" and of (Portuguese) "algarismo", both meaning digit.
Mathematical topics typically emerge and evolve through interactions among many researchers. Set theory, however, was founded by a single paper in 1874 by Georg Cantor: "On a Property of the Collection of All Real Algebraic Numbers".
In 1988, "The Theorem of Pythagoras" was the first video produced by the series and reviews the Pythagorean theorem. For all right triangles, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides ( a + b = c ). The theorem is named after Pythagoras of ancient Greece. Pythagorean triples occur when all three sides of a right triangle are integers such as a = 3, b = 4 and c = 5. A clay tablet shows that the Babylonians knew of Pythagorean triples 1200 years before Pythagoras, but nobody knows if they knew the more-general Pythagorean theorem. The Chinese proof uses four similar triangles to prove the theorem.
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; (30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and sciences. Sometimes referred to as the "Princeps mathematicorum" () and "the greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had an exceptional influence in many fields of mathematics and science, and is ranked among history's most influential mathematicians.
Calculus, known in its early history as infinitesimal calculus, is a mathematical discipline focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently discovered calculus in the mid-17th century. However, both inventors claimed that the other had stolen his work, and the Leibniz-Newton calculus controversy continued until the end of their lives.
Although Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria is noted as the first to have conceived these numbers, Rafael Bombelli first set down the rules for multiplication of complex numbers in 1572. The concept had appeared in print earlier, for instance in work by Gerolamo Cardano. At the time imaginary numbers, as well as negative numbers, were poorly understood and regarded by some as fictitious or useless, much as zero once was. Many other mathematicians were slow to adopt the use of imaginary numbers, including René Descartes, who wrote about them in his "La Géométrie", where the term "imaginary" was used and meant to be derogatory. The use of imaginary numbers was not widely accepted until the work of Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855). The geometric significance of complex numbers as points in a plane was first described by Caspar Wessel (1745–1818).
Al-Karkhi (953–1029), also known as Al-Karaji, was the successor of Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī (940–998) and he discovered the first numerical solution to equations of the form ax + bx = c. Al-Karkhi only considered positive roots. Al-Karkhi is also regarded as the first person to free algebra from geometrical operations and replace them with the type of arithmetic operations which are at the core of algebra today. His work on algebra and polynomials, gave the rules for arithmetic operations to manipulate polynomials. The historian of mathematics F. Woepcke, in "Extrait du Fakhri, traité d'Algèbre par Abou Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhacan Alkarkhi" (Paris, 1853), praised Al-Karaji for being "the first who introduced the theory of algebraic calculus". Stemming from this, Al-Karaji investigated binomial coefficients and Pascal's triangle.
In at least Plato's time, the school did not have any particular doctrine to teach; rather, Plato (and probably other associates of his) posed problems to be studied and solved by the others. There is evidence of lectures given, most notably Plato's lecture "On the Good"; but probably the use of dialectic was more common. According to an unverifiable story, dated of some 700 years after the founding of the school, above the entrance to the Academy was inscribed the phrase "Let None But Geometers Enter Here."
Historically, there was much debate over whether it was Newton or Leibniz who first "invented" calculus. This argument, the Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy, involving Leibniz, who was German, and the Englishman Newton, led to a rift in the European mathematical community lasting over a century. Leibniz was the first to publish his investigations; however, it is well established that Newton had started his work several years prior to Leibniz and had already developed a theory of tangents by the time Leibniz became interested in the question.
It is not known how much this may have influenced Leibniz. The initial accusations were made by students and supporters of the two great scientists at the turn of the century, but after 1711 both of them became personally involved, accusing each other of plagiarism.
According to Guerraggio & Nastasi (page 9, 2005) Luigi Cremona is "considered the founder of the Italian school of algebraic geometry". Later they explain that in Turin the collaboration of Enrico D'Ovidio and Corrado Segre "would bring, either by their own efforts or those of their students, Italian algebraic geometry to full maturity". A one-time student of Segre, H.F. Baker wrote (1926, page 269), [Corrado Segre] "may probably be said to be the father of that wonderful Italian school which has achieved so much in the birational theory of algebraical loci." On this topic, Brigaglia & Ciliberto (2004) say "Segre had headed and maintained the school of geometry that Luigi Cremona had established in 1860." Reference to the Mathematics Genealogy Project shows that, in terms of "Italian doctorates", the real productivity of the school began with Guido Castelnuovo and Federigo Enriques. In the USA Oscar Zariski inspired many Ph.D.s.
John Casey (12 May 1820, Kilbehenny, Co. Limerick, Ireland – 3 January 1891, Dublin) was a respected Irish geometer. He is most famous for Casey's theorem on a circle that is tangent to four other circles, an extension of the problem of Apollonius. However, he contributed several novel proofs and perspectives on Euclidean geometry. He and Émile Lemoine are considered to be the co-founders of the modern geometry of the circle and the triangle.
He was born in Kilbehenny, Limerick, Ireland and educated locally at Mitchelstown, before becoming a teacher under the Board of National Education. He later became headmaster of the Central Model Schools in Kilkenny City. He subsequently entered Trinity College in 1858, where he was elected a Scholar in 1861 and was awarded the degree of BA in 1862. He was then Mathematics Master at Kingston School (1862–1873), Professor of Higher Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at the newly founded Catholic University of Ireland (1873–1881) and Lecturer in Mathematics at University College, Dublin (1881–1891).
Projective geometry is an elementary non-metrical form of geometry, meaning that it is not based on a concept of distance. In two dimensions it begins with the study of configurations of points and lines. That there is indeed some geometric interest in this sparse setting was first established by Desargues and others in their exploration of the principles of perspective art. In higher dimensional spaces there are considered hyperplanes (that always meet), and other linear subspaces, which exhibit the principle of duality. The simplest illustration of duality is in the projective plane, where the statements "two distinct points determine a unique line" (i.e. the line through them) and "two distinct lines determine a unique point" (i.e. their point of intersection) show the same structure as propositions. Projective geometry can also be seen as a geometry of constructions with a straight-edge alone. Since projective geometry excludes compass constructions, there are no circles, no angles, no measurements, no parallels, and no concept of intermediacy. It was realised that the theorems that do apply to projective geometry are simpler statements. For example, the different conic sections are all equivalent in (complex) projective geometry, and some theorems about circles can be considered as special cases of these general theorems.
Girard Desargues (; 21 February 1591 – September 1661) was a French mathematician and engineer, who is considered one of the founders of projective geometry. Desargues' theorem, the Desargues graph, and the crater Desargues on the Moon are named in his honour.
Born in Lyon, Desargues came from a family devoted to service to the French crown. His father was a royal notary, an investigating commissioner of the Seneschal's court in Lyon (1574), the collector of the tithes on ecclesiastical revenues for the city of Lyon (1583) and for the diocese of Lyon.