History of Geometry
 

 

 

Contents

 

Early Geometry

 

Greek Mathematics

 

Euclid & the Elements

 

Later Developments

 

Analytic Geometry

 

Geometry Main Page 
Early Geometry
the Babylonians, Egyptians & Chinese
 
 
It has been recorded that the ancient peoples of Babylon, Egypt and China knew how to calculate the areas of rectilinear figures. Formulas for computing areas were known to the Babylonians, including that of rectangles and triangles. The proportionality constants for these formulas were already determined. As for the constant p of a circle, each civilisation had their own approximations, but were all different.
 
The Babylonians and Chinese were able to find a relationship between the area A and circumference C of a circle, A = Cd / 4 (d is diameter). It is believed that they derived this by dividing a circle into equal sectors and rearranged them into an approximate rectangle.
 
The formulas for solid geometry were also known; volumes of cubes and cylinders could already be calculated. The Egyptians were aware of the formula for pyramids, but did not have a rigorous proof and the method was slightly inaccurate.
 
The Pythagorean Theorem, although named after Pythagoras, was actually already known in ancient times. Some researchers believe that some ancient structures, built 1000 years before Pythagoras' time, were constructed with a knowledge of this theorem. The Pythagorean triples for integer values had also been calculated.