Running head: Birthplace of Geometry 1

Egypt: The Birthplace of Geometry

Alexandra Cardona

USC/MAE Magnet School

Geometry period 6

Author Note

First paragraph: What geometry is

Second paragraph: The birthplace of geometry

Third paragraph: Geometry used for pyramids

Fourth paragraph: Fathers of geometry

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Abstract

Geometry, “Earth Measurements.” Ever wonder where it originated from, who were the

first people who used it, or how they used it. Euclid, a famous mathematician, or also called “the

father of geometry.'' A little backstory for him is that his date of birth is unknown and roughly

estimated to about 365 b.c. He is known for his 13 books, he called it, the Elements. The

Elements consists of 4 didn't topics. Book one deals with plane geometry. Book two deals with

number theory. Books three deals with Eudoxus theory of irrational numbers. Lastly, book four

deals with solid geometry. One funny thing about this so called great mathematician is that his

books are based on the works of people before him. He then passed down the knowledge of

geometry to the greeks. The Greeks then came up with a name for geometry experts,

arpendonapti, those who knot ropes. Arpendonapti’s draw 2 simple and important lines in

geometry which is a straight line and a circle.

Other mathematicians that helped with making geometry are Pythagoras. Pythagoras was

also born in Egypt, he came up with the Pythagorean theorem. Still today we use the

Pythagorean theorem to find the length of a triangle or between what and what. There are so

many more mathematicians that have added their techniques and have made geometry even

better. They’ve put in their work and if it wasn’t for them then we would have the geometry we

have today.
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Egypt: The Birthplace of Geometry

“Earth Measurements.” The word geometry means earth measurements, Geo meaning

earth, and Metron meaning measurements. The reason why its called geometry is because in

geometry you make predictions about the physical world. The idea of geometry came from the

Ancient Egypt times, when men began to feel the need to measure their lands when buying and

also when selling. Most people think geometry is just a bunch of shapes, but there is a lot more

to it than just shapes. Over the years geometry has developed. Different mathematicians put in

their ideas and work to make geometry evolve. Egypt is where the first place to use geometry,

they used it on there pyramids. They had to calculate the size, how much it can withstand, how

many days it might take, how many bricks they will have to make for the pyramids to be

completed, among other things. People think that when you have numbers in front of you, you

need to do something with them, but that’s not the answer, that's why geometry is important.

Geometry teaches us logic.

Geometry origins goes back to Ancient Egypt. Egyptians used it for building their

pyramids, square base and triangular face, and they even used it for astronomy. Today we still

use geometry for astronomy and buildings. Egyptians first came up with lines and circles, the

basics. From there on they started to add equations, solutions , and formulas. Egypt experts

would use tighten ropes to mark the land with circles or lines. These experts were called

arpendonapti​ by the Greeks, that means those who knot ropes. Later on Egyptian passed

geometry knowledge to Ancient Greek.

Ancient Egypt pyramids required a lot of geometry. According to

rogerburrowsimages.com, “​KHUFU (CHEOPS) ​14/11​ Base 232.4m x Ht 146.7M; KHAFRE 

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(CHEPHREN) 4
​ /3​ Base 215.3m x Ht 143.5m; SNEFRU (Red Pyramid) ​1/1​? Base 218.5 m 

x Ht 104.4 m; NEFERIRKARE ​√2​ Base 104m x Ht 73.5m; DJOSER 1

​ /1​ ?Base 125m x 109 

m Ht 62m; MENKAURE (MYCERINUS) ​4/3​ Base 102.2m x 104.6m Ht 65 m; 

HETEPHERES 4
​ /3​ ? Base 45.5m x 46.5m x 45.7m Ht x 29m; MERITITES 4
​ /3​ Base 47.8m 

x 49.4m x 48.2 x 47.1m Ht 30.5m; HENUTSEN 4

​ /3 B
​ ase 45.5m x 46.8m x 45.2m Ht 

30.6m. ​Note that the 4/3 ratio is that of the 3,4,5 triangle – later to be called a 

Pythagorean triple.” T
​ his was the fromlua they had to use to make their pyramids right. As you

can see they had a lot of math to do, but all of it was worth. Their pyramids came out stable and

exactly how they wanted it to come out. They used a lot of slope and pythagorean theorem. The

two most used formulas when it comes to triangles. The most challenging part of building the

pyramids is maintaining alignments of the square profiles of the layers. Once they have

accomplished this part, the rest was a breeze. Ancient Egyptian pyramids are well known

structures, thanks to just two simple lines and circles. The first ever pyramid made was the

Pyramid of Djoser, which was built around 4650 years ago. This tells you how long geometry

has been around, and how it has developed throughout the years and still today there are people

who are adding more. On the other hand, many people believe that the Egyptians used logic and

reason to build the pyramids. A question that got these people thinking is, how did they build the

Great Pyramid? They believed that Egyptians used simple math such as algebra, the pythagorean

theorem, geometry , and trigonometry.

Euclid, the father of geometry, born c. 300 BCE, Alexandria, Egypt. He was one

of the most prominent mathematicians of Greco-Roman. Euclid worked his entire life in the field

mathematics and made contributions to geometry. His famous work are his books,​ Elements​. His
The Birthplace of Geometry 5

book is work from earlier men. Some of the topics in the book are, given two points there is one

straight line that joins them, a straight line segment can be prolonged indefinitely, a circle can

constructed when a point for its centre and a distance for its radius is given, and many more.

These are topic for other men that have tried to prove them, Euclid is just adding for information

to them. Another great mathematician was Pythagoras. He was the creator of the Pythagorean

Theorem. He was like a god, his work was treated with respect and he even influenced others.

Other math mathematicians used his theorem and combined it with theirs. Thales of Miletus was

another great mathematician. According to famousmathematicians.com, “He was the first

individual to whom a mathematical discovery was attributed.” He is well known for his work in

calculating pyramids and distance.

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Work Cited

http://www.famousmathematicians.net/famous-greek-mathematicians/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Euclid-Greek-mathematician

https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/math/geometry/introduction/history_of_geometry

https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/WhatIs/WhatIsGeometry.shtml

https://php.math.unifi.it/archimede/archimede_NEW_inglese/curve/curve_giusti/prima.php?id=1

http://www.ask-math.com/basic-geometry.html

http://rogerburrowsimages.com/2017/12/geometries-ancient-egypt-pyramids/

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/engineering/egyptianpyramids.html

https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa-opinion-guest-authors/mathematical-encod

ing-great-pyramid-002323

https://studymoose.com/how-was-math-used-in-building-the-great-pyramid-essay

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Pythagoras.html