History of geometry

ONLINE ASSIGNMENT HISTORY OF GEOMETRY

1. HISTORY OF GEOMETRY










Geometry, the branch of mathematics concerned with the shape of
individual objects, spatial relationships among various objects, and the
properties of surrounding space. It is one of the oldest branches of
mathematics, having arisen in response to such practical problems as
those found in surveying, and its name is derived from Greek words
meaning “Earth measurement.”
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial
relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-defined modern
mathematics, the other being the study of numbers (arithmetic).
Classic geometry was focused in compass and straightedge
constructions. Geometry was revolutionized by Euclid, who introduced
mathematical rigor and the axiomatic method still in use today. His

2. book, The Elements is widely considered the most influential textbook
of all time, and was known to all educated people in the west until the
middle of the 20
th
century.
In modern times, geometric concepts have been generalized to a high
level of abstraction and complexity, and have been subjected to the
methods of calculus and abstract algebra, so that many modern branches
of the field are barely recognizable as the descendants of early geometry.

3. THE STORY OF GEOMETRY


This is really a story about how geometry got it’s name. We know from
studies about the Egyptians that their lives centered around a very
important river, the Nile. Egypt has been called the ‘Gift of the Nile’ and
‘The Mother of Geometry’. Century after century, year the Nile
overflowed its bank’s and washed down the block mud from the
surrounding mountains. This mud made very fertile soil, which gave the
Egyptian farmers really good crops. Each year the floods washed away
the markers that the farmers used to mark their boundaries. As you can
imagine, year after year they had to find a way to put back the boundary
marks. This kind of measuring taught them a great deal about geometry.

An Egyptian surveyor was called an Harpedonapta , he would walk
along the three slaves behind him carrying a rope with special knotes
tied in special places .The rope was used to make a special triangle with
a ratio by bending it where the knotes were to made a right angled
triangle. At the time the Egyptian’s didn’t know why it worked but they
noticed that no matter how long the rope was as long as the ropes were
placed at 3:4:5. It would make a right angled triangle, which was very
useful to them. Remember they didn’t know what it worked, they just
knew it did.

4. Hundred of years later a Greek merchant visited Egypt because was
interested in the wealth of knowledge Egypt had. Thales was his name,
he was a successful business man, who became so successful and rich
that after a few years he was able to retire and devote all his time to
earth measurement, mathematics and astronomy. Earth measurement is
actually what geometry means. Thales learnt about astronomy from the
Babylonians, however it is not for his contribution to astronomy, that we
remember Thales, but for his contribution to mathematics and especially
geometry, because Thales was so curious about the reasons behind
things that he created a system of logical thinking which gave birth to
the science of geometry.