Beginning with Book 1

Where there is matter, there geometry is - Kepler

Geometry is more vital to the students of Nature than to the students of Mathematics. Point
moves to give a curve, curve moves to give a surface(with an exception), surface moves to give a
‘region in space’. Also, there are certain geometrical ideas that are inbuilt in the human brain –
straightness, regularness, flatness, finiteness. So, we speak of “straight curve”, “flat surface”,
“regular figure” etc.. (The word figure has a definition in geometry)

Why study Euclid’s Elements?

Euclid’s Elements taught me how to think – Abraham Lincoln

1 The biggest contribution of Euclid’s Elements to humanity is not the mathematical facts
it gave but the introduction of Deductive Reasoning

2 The importance of Deductive Reasoning (Deduction) need not be exaggerated. It is one

of the three ways of acquiring knowledge(facts) of the world around us and inside us,
other two methods being Induction (experience) and Intuition. Scientific thinking,
Rational thinking, Logical thinking, Critical thinking, Mathematical thinking are all
various forms of Deductive Thinking

3 The study of Elements offers the best opportunity to discover the analytical skills of the
gifted

4 Every intellectual mind of the western world, almost without exception, was influenced
by Elements. Einstein remarked that two things that influenced him most as a boy were
magnetic compass and Euclid’s Elements. Newton in his famous Principia called his
Laws as Axioms having studied Elements. Thomas Jefferson, influenced by Euclid,
framed The American Declaration of Independence in the language of Elements and he
actually made the influence public

5 Panini is placed in the list of 100 great mathematicians of all times just for one work -
Ashtadhyayi, the constitutional authority for Sanskrit grammar. He is called “the Indian
Euclid” for his rigour

6 It is less wonder that Elements is the most sold out book in the history of the world, after
Bible

7 While inculcating Rigour cum Deductive Reasoning simultaneously and connecting us to

a tradition of 2500 years, Elements also plants all the seeds of higher geometrical facts
 BOOK 1

Triangle and Circle are the simplest regular figures which are necessarily planar and convex

From 23 Definitions , 5 Axioms and 5 Common Principles, Euclid deduced 48 Theorems, 21 of

which are selected here. Though very few of the Definitions and Theorems do not meet modern
standards, that do not diminish the value of Elements because we should not expect Wright
Brothers to cross the Atlantic!

04 SAS Congruence (taken as axiom and hints at isometry)

05 Men’s Theorem
06 Converse of Men’s Theorem (first use of PbC)
08 SSS Congruence
09 Bisecting given Plane Angle
10 Bisecting given Line-Segment
11 Drawing perpendicular at a point on given line
12 Drawing perpendicular at a point NOT on a given line
16 EGOI Theorem
18 Angle opposite to greater side is greater
19 Side opposite to greater angle is greater
20 Triangle Inequality
23 Constructing an angle equal to a given angle and at a given point on a given line
26 ASA Congruence
27 Equality of alternate angles implies parallelism
31 Drawing a line parallel to a given line and through a point NOT on it
32 Angles in a triangle are straight and ESOI Theorem
35 Parallelograms on same base and between same parallels have same area
37 Triangles on same base and between same parallels have same area
41 The area of a parallelogram on the same base as a triangle and between same parallels is
twice that of triangle
47 Pythagoras Theorem (Has the highest number of Proofs in Mathematics – 360 + )

A Bit of History One mathematician spent his whole life to prove that Euclid’s Fifth Axiom is
actually not an axiom and can be deduced from the first 4 Axioms

Some Insight

Euclid’s Constructions and Proposition 4 are forerunners of modern day Algorithms and
Geometric Transformations respectively, I feel. Euclid’s 5 Axioms gave only 2 instruments for
constructions - unmarked single edged ruler for lines (Axioms 1 & 2) and compass for circles
(Axiom 3). Such constructions may be called e-constructions