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Friday 9 January 2015

Euclid

Euclid (fl. 300 BC) was a Greek mathematician,  who taught in Alexandria was probably the founder of its mathematical school.

His chief extant work is the 13-volume Elements, which became the most widely known mathematical book of Classical antiquity, and is still much used in geometry. The approach which obeys his axioms became known as Euclidean geometry.

Elements is considered one of the most successful textbooks ever written. One of the very first books to go to press, it is second only to the Bible in number of editions published (well over 1000).

For centuries, knowledge of at least part of Euclid's Elements was required of all university students. Not until the 20th century did it cease to be considered something all educated people had read.

Very few original references to Euclid survive, so little is known about his life. The date, place and circumstances of both his birth and death are unknown.. He is rarely mentioned by name by other Greek mathematicians from Archimedes onward, who usually call him "ὁ στοιχειώτης" ("the author of Elements").

Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999. 

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