Euclid's Elements has been referred to as the most successful[a][b] and influential[c]textbook ever written. It was one of the very earliest mathematical works to be printed after the invention of the printing press and has been estimated to be second only to the Bible in the number of editions published since the first printing in 1482,[1] the number reaching well over one thousand.[d] For centuries, when the quadrivium was included in the curriculum of all university students, knowledge of at least part of Euclid's Elements was required of all students. Not until the 20th century, by which time its content was universally taught through other school textbooks, did it cease to be considered something all educated people had read.[citation needed]
An illumination from a manuscript based on Adelard of Bath's translation of the Elements, c. 1309–1316; Adelard's is the oldest surviving translation of the Elements into Latin, done in the 12th-century work and translated from Arabic.[2]
Scholars believe that the Elements is largely a compilation of propositions based on books by earlier Greek mathematicians.[3]
Proclus (412–485 AD), a Greek mathematician who lived around seven centuries after Euclid, wrote in his commentary on the Elements: "Euclid, who put together the Elements, collecting many of Eudoxus' theorems, perfecting many of Theaetetus', and also bringing to irrefragable demonstration the things which were only somewhat loosely proved by his predecessors".
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BC) was probably the source for most of books I and II, Hippocrates of Chios (c. 470–410 BC, not the better known Hippocrates of Kos) for book III, and Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408–355 BC) for book V, while books IV, VI, XI, and XII probably came from other Pythagorean or Athenian mathematicians.[4] The Elements may have been based on an earlier textbook by Hippocrates of Chios, who also may have originated the use of letters to refer to figures.[5] Other similar works are also reported to have been written by Theudius of Magnesia, Leon, and Hermotimus of Colophon.[6][7]
Transmission of the text
In the 4th century AD, Theon of Alexandria produced an edition of Euclid which was so widely used that it became the only surviving source until François Peyrard's 1808 discovery at the Vatican of a manuscript not derived from Theon's. This manuscript, the Heiberg manuscript, is from a Byzantine workshop around 900 and is the basis of modern editions.[8]Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 29 is a tiny fragment of an even older manuscript, but only contains the statement of one proposition.
Although Euclid was known to Cicero, for instance, no record exists of the text having been translated into Latin prior to Boethius in the fifth or sixth century.[2] The Arabs received the Elements from the Byzantines around 760; this version was translated into Arabic under Harun al-Rashid (c. 800).[2] The Byzantine scholar Arethas commissioned the copying of one of the extant Greek manuscripts of Euclid in the late ninth century.[9] Although known in Byzantium, the Elements was lost to Western Europe until about 1120, when the English monk Adelard of Bath translated it into Latin from an Arabic translation.[e] A relatively recent discovery was made of a Greek-to-Latin translation from the 12th century at Palermo, Sicily. The name of the translator is not known other than he was an anonymous medical student from Salerno who was visiting Palermo in order to translate the Almagest to Latin. The Euclid manuscript is extant and quite complete.[11]
After the translation by Adelard of Bath (known as Adelard I), there was a flurry of translations from Arabic. Notable translators in this period include Herman of Carinthia who wrote an edition around 1140, Robert of Chester (his manuscripts are referred to collectively as Adelard II, written on or before 1251), Johannes de Tinemue,[12] possibly also known as John of Tynemouth (his manuscripts are referred to collectively as Adelard III), late 12th century, and Gerard of Cremona (sometime after 1120 but before 1187). The exact details concerning these translations is still an active area of research.[13][pageneeded]Campanus of Novara relied heavily on these Arabic translations to create his edition (sometime before 1260) which ultimately came to dominate Latin editions until the availability of Greek manuscripts in the 16th century. There are more than 100 pre-1482 Campanus manuscripts still available today.[14][15]
Euclidis – Elementorum libri XV Paris, Hieronymum de Marnef & Guillaume Cavelat, 1573 (second edition after the 1557 ed.); in 8:350, (2)pp. THOMAS–STANFORD, Early Editions of Euclid's Elements, n°32. Mentioned in T.L. Heath's translation. Private collection Hector Zenil.
The first printed edition appeared in 1482 (based on Campanus's translation),[16] and since then it has been translated into many languages and published in about a thousand different editions. Theon's Greek edition was recovered and published in 1533[17] based on Paris gr. 2343 and Venetus Marcianus 301.[18] In 1570, John Dee provided a widely respected "Mathematical Preface", along with copious notes and supplementary material, to the first English edition by Henry Billingsley.
Copies of the Greek text still exist, some of which can be found in the Vatican Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The manuscripts available are of variable quality, and invariably incomplete. By careful analysis of the translations and originals, hypotheses have been made about the contents of the original text (copies of which are no longer available).
Ancient texts which refer to the Elements itself, and to other mathematical theories that were current at the time it was written, are also important in this process. Such analyses are conducted by J. L. Heiberg and Sir Thomas Little Heath in their editions of the text.
Also of importance are the scholia, or annotations to the text. These additions, which often distinguished themselves from the main text (depending on the manuscript), gradually accumulated over time as opinions varied upon what was worthy of explanation or further study.
A page with marginalia from the first printed edition of Elements, printed by Erhard Ratdolt in 1482
The austere beauty of Euclidean geometry has been seen by many in western culture as a glimpse of an otherworldly system of perfection and certainty. Abraham Lincoln kept a copy of Euclid in his saddlebag, and studied it late at night by lamplight; he related that he said to himself, "You never can make a lawyer if you do not understand what demonstrate means; and I left my situation in Springfield, went home to my father's house, and stayed there till I could give any proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight".[21][22]Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote in her sonnet "Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare", "O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day, / When first the shaft into his vision shone / Of light anatomized!". Albert Einstein recalled a copy of the Elements and a magnetic compass as two gifts that had a great influence on him as a boy, referring to the Euclid as the "holy little geometry book".[23][24]
The success of the Elements is due primarily to its logical presentation of most of the mathematical knowledge available to Euclid. Much of the material is not original to him, although many of the proofs are his. However, Euclid's systematic development of his subject, from a small set of axioms to deep results, and the consistency of his approach throughout the Elements, encouraged its use as a textbook for about 2,000 years. The Elements still influences modern geometry books. Furthermore, its logical, axiomatic approach and rigorous proofs remain the cornerstone of mathematics.
In modern mathematics
One of the most notable influences of Euclid on modern mathematics is the discussion of the parallel postulate. In Book I, Euclid lists five postulates, the fifth of which stipulates
If a line segment intersects two straight lines forming two interior angles on the same side that sum to less than two right angles, then the two lines, if extended indefinitely, meet on that side on which the angles sum to less than two right angles.
The different versions of the parallel postulate result in different geometries.
This postulate plagued mathematicians for centuries due to its apparent complexity compared with the other four postulates. Many attempts were made to prove the fifth postulate based on the other four, but they never succeeded. Eventually in 1829, mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky published a description of acute geometry (or hyperbolic geometry), a geometry which assumed a different form of the parallel postulate. It is in fact possible to create a valid geometry without the fifth postulate entirely, or with different versions of the fifth postulate (elliptic geometry). If one takes the fifth postulate as a given, the result is Euclidean geometry.[citation needed]
Book 1 contains 5 postulates and 5 common notions, and covers important topics of plane geometry such as the Pythagorean theorem, equality of angles and areas, parallelism, the sum of the angles in a triangle, and the construction of various geometric figures.
Book 2 contains a number of lemmas concerning the equality of rectangles and squares, sometimes referred to as "geometric algebra", and concludes with a construction of the golden ratio and a way of constructing a square equal in area to any rectilineal plane figure.
Book 3 deals with circles and their properties: finding the center, inscribed angles, tangents, the power of a point, Thales' theorem.
Book 5, on proportions of magnitudes, gives the highly sophisticated theory of proportion probably developed by Eudoxus, and proves properties such as "alternation" (if a: b:: c: d, then a: c:: b: d).
Book 6 applies proportions to plane geometry, especially the construction and recognition of similar figures.
Book 10 proves the irrationality of the square roots of non-square integers (e.g. ) and classifies the square roots of incommensurable lines into thirteen disjoint categories. Euclid here introduces the term "irrational", which has a different meaning than the modern concept of irrational numbers. He also gives a formula to produce Pythagorean triples.[25]
Book 11 generalizes the results of book 6 to solid figures: perpendicularity, parallelism, volumes and similarity of parallelepipeds.
Book 12 studies the volumes of cones, pyramids, and cylinders in detail by using the method of exhaustion, a precursor to integration, and shows, for example, that the volume of a cone is a third of the volume of the corresponding cylinder. It concludes by showing that the volume of a sphere is proportional to the cube of its radius (in modern language) by approximating its volume by a union of many pyramids.
Book 13 constructs the five regular Platonic solids inscribed in a sphere and compares the ratios of their edges to the radius of the sphere.
More information Book, I ...
Summary Contents of Euclid's Elements
Book
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
Totals
Definitions
23
2
11
7
18
4
22
–
–
16
28
–
–
131
Postulates
5
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
5
Common Notions
5
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
5
Propositions
48
14
37
16
25
33
39
27
36
115
39
18
18
465
Close
• "To draw a straight line from any point to any point."
• "To describe a circle with any center and distance."
An animation showing how Euclid constructed a hexagon (Book IV, Proposition 15). Every two-dimensional figure in the Elements can be constructed using only a compass and straightedge.[26]Scan of pages demonstrating Pythagorean theorem from manuscript held in the Vatican Library
Many of Euclid's propositions were constructive, demonstrating the existence of some figure by detailing the steps he used to construct the object using a compass and straightedge. His constructive approach appears even in his geometry's postulates, as the first and third postulates stating the existence of a line and circle are constructive. Instead of stating that lines and circles exist per his prior definitions, he states that it is possible to 'construct' a line and circle. It also appears that, for him to use a figure in one of his proofs, he needs to construct it in an earlier proposition. For example, he proves the Pythagorean theorem by first inscribing a square on the sides of a right triangle, but only after constructing a square on a given line one proposition earlier.[27]
As was common in ancient mathematical texts, when a proposition needed proof in several different cases, Euclid often proved only one of them (often the most difficult), leaving the others to the reader. Later editors such as Theon often interpolated their own proofs of these cases.
Euclid's presentation was limited by the mathematical ideas and notations in common currency in his era, and this causes the treatment to seem awkward to the modern reader in some places. For example, there was no notion of an angle greater than two right angles,[28] the number 1 was sometimes treated separately from other positive integers, and as multiplication was treated geometrically he did not use the product of more than 3 different numbers. The geometrical treatment of number theory may have been because the alternative would have been the extremely awkward Alexandrian system of numerals.[29]
The presentation of each result is given in a stylized form, which, although not invented by Euclid, is recognized as typically classical. It has six different parts: First is the 'enunciation', which states the result in general terms (i.e., the statement of the proposition). Then comes the 'setting-out', which gives the figure and denotes particular geometrical objects by letters. Next comes the 'definition' or 'specification', which restates the enunciation in terms of the particular figure. Then the 'construction' or 'machinery' follows. Here, the original figure is extended to forward the proof. Then, the 'proof' itself follows. Finally, the 'conclusion' connects the proof to the enunciation by stating the specific conclusions drawn in the proof, in the general terms of the enunciation.[30]
No indication is given of the method of reasoning that led to the result, although the Data does provide instruction about how to approach the types of problems encountered in the first four books of the Elements.[4] Some scholars have tried to find fault in Euclid's use of figures in his proofs, accusing him of writing proofs that depended on the specific figures drawn rather than the general underlying logic, especially concerning Proposition II of Book I. However, Euclid's original proof of this proposition, is general, valid, and does not depend on the figure used as an example to illustrate one given configuration.[31]
Euclid's Elements contains errors. Some of the foundational theorems are proved using axioms that Euclid did not state explicitly. A few proofs have errors, by relying on assumptions that are intuitive but not explicitly proven. Mathematician and historian W. W. Rouse Ball put the criticisms in perspective, remarking that "the fact that for two thousand years [the Elements] was the usual text-book on the subject raises a strong presumption that it is not unsuitable for that purpose."[28]
Later editors have added Euclid's implicit axiomatic assumptions in their list of formal axioms.[32] For example, in the first construction of Book 1, Euclid used a premise that was neither postulated nor proved: that two circles with centers at the distance of their radius will intersect in two points.[33]
Early attempts to find all the errors include Hilbert's geometry axioms and Tarski's. In 2018, Michael Beeson et al. used computer proof assistants to create a new set of axioms similar to Euclid's and generate proofs that were valid with those axioms.[34]
Beeson et al. checked only Book I and found these errors: missing axioms, superfluous axioms, gaps in logic (such as failing to prove points were colinear), missing theorems (such as an angle cannot be less than itself), and outright bad proofs. The bad proofs were in Book I, Proof 7 and Book I, Proposition 9.
It was not uncommon in ancient times to attribute to celebrated authors works that were not written by them. It is by these means that the apocryphal books XIV and XV of the Elements were sometimes included in the collection.[35] The spurious Book XIV was probably written by Hypsicles on the basis of a treatise by Apollonius. The book continues Euclid's comparison of regular solids inscribed in spheres, with the chief result being that the ratio of the surfaces of the dodecahedron and icosahedron inscribed in the same sphere is the same as the ratio of their volumes, the ratio being
The spurious Book XV was probably written, at least in part, by Isidore of Miletus. This book covers topics such as counting the number of edges and solid angles in the regular solids, and finding the measure of dihedral angles of faces that meet at an edge.[f]
The ItalianJesuitMatteo Ricci (left) and the Chinese mathematician Xu Guangqi (right) published the first Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements (Jīhé yuánběn幾何原本) in 1607.Proof of the Pythagorean theorem in Byrne's The Elements of Euclid and published in colored version in 1847.
1557, by Jean Magnien and Pierre de Montdoré[fr], reviewed by Stephanus Gracilis (only propositions, no full proofs, includes original Greek and the Latin translation)
1789, Pr. Suvoroff nad Yos. Nikitin (Russian from Greek)
1803, H.C. Linderup (Danish)
1804, François Peyrard (French). Peyrard discovered in 1808 the Vaticanus Graecus 190, which enables him to provide a first definitive version in 1814–1818
1807, Józef Czech (Polish based on Greek, Latin and English editions)
1891,1896, The Harpur Euclid by Edward Langley and Seys Phillips (English)
1949, Henry Regnery Company (English)
Selected editions currently in print
Euclid's Elements – All thirteen books complete in one volume, Based on Heath's translation, edited by Dana Densmore, et al. Green Lion Press ISBN1-888009-18-7.
The Elements: Books I–XIII – Complete and Unabridged (2006), Translated by Sir Thomas Heath, Barnes & Noble ISBN0-7607-6312-7.
The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, translation and commentaries by Heath, Thomas L. (1956) in three volumes. Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-60088-2 (vol. 1), ISBN0-486-60089-0 (vol. 2), ISBN0-486-60090-4 (vol. 3)
Plane Geometry (Euclid's elements Redux) Books I–VI, based on John Casey's translation, edited by Daniel Callahan, ISBN978-1977730039
Selected editions based on Oliver Byrne's edition
The first six books of the Elements of Euclid, edited by Werner Oechslin, Taschen, 2010, ISBN3836517752, a facsimile of Byrne (1847).
Oliver Byrne's Elements of Euclid, Art Meets Science, 2022, ISBN978-1528770439, a facsimile of Byrne (1847).
Wilson 2006, p.278 states, "Euclid's Elements subsequently became the basis of all mathematical education, not only in the Roman and Byzantine periods, but right down to the mid-20th century, and it could be argued that it is the most successful textbook ever written."
Boyer 1991, p.100 notes, "As teachers at the school he called a band of leading scholars, among whom was the author of the most fabulously successful mathematics textbook ever written – the Elements (Stoichia) of Euclid".
Boyer 1991, p.119 notes, "The Elements of Euclid not only was the earliest major Greek mathematical work to come down to us, but also the most influential textbook of all times. [...]The first printed versions of the Elements appeared at Venice in 1482, one of the very earliest of mathematical books to be set in type; it has been estimated that since then at least a thousand editions have been published. Perhaps no book other than the Bible can boast so many editions, and certainly no mathematical work has had an influence comparable with that of Euclid's Elements".
Bunt, Jones & Bedient 1988, p.142 state, "the Elements became known to Western Europe via the Arabs and the Moors. There, the Elements became the foundation of mathematical education. More than 1000 editions of the Elements are known. In all probability, it is, next to the Bible, the most widely spread book in the civilization of the Western world."
One older work claims Adelard disguised himself as a Muslim student to obtain a copy in Muslim Córdoba.[10] However, more recent biographical work has turned up no clear documentation that Adelard ever went to Muslim-ruled Spain, although he spent time in Norman-ruled Sicily and Crusader-ruled Antioch, both of which had Arabic-speaking populations. Charles Burnett, Adelard of Bath: Conversations with his Nephew (Cambridge, 1999); Charles Burnett, Adelard of Bath (University of London, 1987).
Boyer 1991, pp.118–119 writes, "In ancient times it was not uncommon to attribute to a celebrated author works that were not by him; thus, some versions of Euclid's Elements include a fourteenth and even a fifteenth book, both shown by later scholars to be apocryphal. The so-called Book XIV continues Euclid's comparison of the regular solids inscribed in a sphere, the chief results being that the ratio of the surfaces of the dodecahedron and icosahedron inscribed in the same sphere is the same as the ratio of their volumes, the ratio being that of the edge of the cube to the edge of the icosahedron, that is, . It is thought that this book may have been composed by Hypsicles on the basis of a treatise (now lost) by Apollonius comparing the dodecahedron and icosahedron. [...] The spurious Book XV, which is inferior, is thought to have been (at least in part) the work of Isidore of Miletus (fl. ca. A.D. 532), architect of the cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) at Constantinople. This book also deals with the regular solids, counting the number of edges and solid angles in the solids, and finding the measures of the dihedral angles of faces meeting at an edge.
Murdoch, John E. (1967). "Euclides Graeco-Latinus: A Hitherto Unknown Medieval Latin Translation of the Elements Made Directly from the Greek". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 71: 249–302. doi:10.2307/310767. JSTOR310767.
Thomas, Heath (1956). The thirteen books of Euclid's Elements. Vol. 1: Introduction and books I, II (Second revised with additionsed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN978-0-486-60088-8.
Herschbach, Dudley. "Einstein as a Student"(PDF). Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. p.3. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2009-02-26.: about Max Talmud visited on Thursdays for six years.
Heath, Thomas L. (1956a). The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements. Vol.1. Books I and II (2nded.). New York: Dover Publications. OL22193354M.
Heath, Thomas L. (1956b). The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements. Vol.2. Books III to IX (2nded.). New York: Dover Publications. OL7650092M.
Heath, Thomas L. (1956c). The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements. Vol.3. Books X to XIII and Appendix (2nded.). New York: Dover Publications. OCLC929205858. Heath's authoritative translation plus extensive historical research and detailed commentary throughout the text.
Kitāb Taḥrīr uṣūl li-Ūqlīdis Arabic translation of the thirteen books of Euclid's Elements by Nasīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. Published by Medici Oriental Press(also, Typographia Medicea). Facsimile hosted by Islamic Heritage Project.
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