MODULE 1: THE ORIGINE OF GEOMETRY

THE BEGINNING
 Geometry was created out of necessity by the ancient Egyptians.
 Flooding of the Nile River would cause some of the tenants of the pharaoh’s land
to lose crops, so the tenants would refuse to pay “rent” for the flooded land.
 The Egyptians then figured out how to measure the area to adjust the “rent”

EGYPTIAN GEOMETRY
 Approximated area and volumes of different shapes including circles,
hemispheres, and cylinders.
 Challenged by finding the volume of a truncated square pyramid.

BABYLONIAN GEOMETRY
 Geometry mostly used for measurement.
 Appeared to know the Pythagorean Theorem.
 The sliding ladder problem.
 Had formula to find areas and volumes of various common shapes.
 Used “cut and paste” geometry where they would rearrange squares and
rectangles to find the solutions to quadratic equations.

MIGRATION TO GREECE
 Simply being called a Greek mathematician, does not make one from Greece
 Thales (624-547 B.C.) was said to have learned math from the Egyptians and
Babylonians, and bring his findings to the Grecian Empire.
THALE’S THEOREMS
1. A circle is bisected by the diameter.
2. Angles in a triangle opposite two sides of equal length are equal (isosceles
Triangle Theorem).
3. Opposite angles formed by intersecting straight lines are equal (Vertical angles
are congruent)
4. The angle inscribed in a semicircle in a right angle.
5. A triangle is determined if its base and the two angles at the base are given (ASA
Triangle Congruence Theorem).
PHYTHAGORAS
 Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries.
 Pythagoras theorem, Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids, the Theory of
Proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, and the identity of the morning and
evening stars as the planet Venus.
HIPPOCRATES
 Hippocrates (470-410 B.C.) was the predecessor of Euclid, and wrote an
“Elements” of Geometry
 He worked with the “Squaring of the circle” problem.
SQUARING THE CIRCLE
  “For if a parallelogram can be found equal to any rectilinear figure, it is worth
inquiring whether it is possible to prove that a rectilinear figure is equal to a
circular are”.
EUCLID
 Euclid (325-265 B.C.) was the author of the “Elements” which was a gathering of
the work of many of his predecessors such as Thales, Pythagoras, and
Hippocrates.
 It is quite possible that Euclid modeled his book after Hippocrates.
THE FIVE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY
 In “The Elements” Euclid’s proposed 5 postulates (things assumed true)
1. “Let it be postulated to draw a straight line from any point to any point,
and”
2. “To produce a limited straight line in a straight line.”
3. “To describe circle with any center and distance,”
4. “That all right angles are equal to each other.”
5. “That if a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior angles
on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if
produced indefinitely, meet on that side on which are the angles less than
the two right angles.” (parallel postulates)

ARAB GEOMETRY
 First Greek text translated was Elements
 Adopted Euclidean approach Formulated precise theorems and proofs based on
Euclid’s style
 Focused on Euclid’s fifth postulate (parallel postulate)
 Art, decoration
 Repetition of basic motif
 Mathematical because not all shapes can cover a plane surface through
repetition
 Symmetry
 Two styles: Muqarnas, Arabesque
 Arab Arts

PARALLEL POSTULATES
 Multiple parallel postulates exist and are used to define different types of
geometry.
 Parallel postulates, One of the five postulates, or axioms, of Euclid underpinning
Euclidean geometry.
PLAYFAIR’S FORM OF THE PARALLEL POSTULATES
 Through a point not on a line, there is exactly one line parallel to the given line.
SACCHERI’S NEGATION
 Through a point not on a line, either
 There are no lines parallel to the given line, or
 There is more than one line parallel to the given line
SACCHERI’S QUADRILATERAL
  He assumed angles A and B to be right angles and sides AD and BC to be equal.
His plans was to show that the angles C and D couldn’t both be obtuse or both
be acute and hence are right angles.

REIMANNIAN (SPHERICAL) GEOMETRY

TH
 5 through a point P off a line k, no line can be drawn that is parallel to k.
 Lines have finite length.
 Angles in Saccheri’s quadrilateral are obtuse.

LABACHESKIAN (HYPERBOLIC) GEOMETRY

TH
 5 through a point P off the line k, at least two different lines can be drawn
parallel to k
 Lines have infinite length
 Angles in Saccheri’s quadrilateral are acute
 A geometric system where the Parallel Postulate is replaced with part 6 of
Saccheri’s negation
 Carl Friedrich Gauss (German) explored but did not publish
 Nicolai Lobachevsky (Russian) published first in 1829
 Jonas Balyai (Hungarian) published in 1832
 The joint conclusion: The substitution produces a system with no contradictions.
Thus the Parallel Postulates cannot be proven by postulates I-IV.

NON-EUCLIDIAN GEOMETRY
1. The first four postulates are much simpler than the fifth, and for many years it
was thought that the fifth could be derived from the first four.
2. It was finally proven that the fifth postulates is an axiom and is consistent with the
first four, but NOT necessary (took more than 2000 years)
3. Saccheri (1667-1733) made the most dedicated attempt with his quadrilateral
4. Any geometry in which the fifth postulate is change is a non-Euclidean geometry

CLASSIFICATION OF NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY

 In 1871, Felix Klein assigned these three geometries their more commonly
known names:
 Euclidean = parabolic
 Lobachevskian = hyperbolic
 Reimannian = elliptip
 Klein also linked the new geometries to new algebraic ideas.
EUCLIDEAN VS. NON-EUCLIDEAN
EUCLIDEAN REIMANNIAN (ELLIPTIC) LOBACHEVSKIAN
(PARABOLIC) (HYPERBOLIC)
 Only one where  Sum of the angles  Sum of the angles of
similar but not of a triangle is less a triangle is less
congruent triangles than 180 degrees than 180 degrees
are possible  Ratio of  Ratio of
 Sum of angles of a circumference of a circumference of a
triangle is exactly circle to its diameter circle to its diameter
 180 degree is greater than π is less than π and
 Ratio of and not constant not constant
circumference of a
circle to its diameter
is exactly π

BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY
 Early studies of astronomy were more predictive than explanatory.
 Computational schemes to determine the next time and location of a celestial
event.
 This is where the sexagesimal system was formed.
SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM
 The sexagesimal system was an ancient system of counting, calculation, and
numerical notation that used powers of 60 much as the decimal system uses
powers of 10. Rudiments of the ancient system survive in vestigial form in our
division of the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.

INTRODUCTION
There is a well-developed theory for a geometry based solely on the Five
Common Notions and first four Postulates of Euclid.
In other words, there is a geometry in which neither the Fifth Postulate nor any of
its alternatives is taken as an axiom.
This geometry is called Absolute Geometry, and an account of it can be found in
several textbooks in Coxeter’s book “Introduction to Geometry”, for instance, or in many
college textbooks where the focus is on developing geometry within an axiomatic
system.

EUCLIDEAN PARALLEL POSTULATE

PLAYFAIR’S AXIOM
Through a given point, not on a given line, exactly one line can be drawn parallel
to the given line.
THEOREM: Euclid’s five postulates and common nations imply Playfair’s Axiom.
PROOF: First it has to be shown that if P is a given point not on a given line l, then
there is at least one line through P that is parallel to l.
By Euclid’s Proposition I 12, it is possible to draw a line t through P perpendicular
to l. In the figure le D be the intersection of l with t.