Ancient Greek Mathematics

Ancient Greek scholars were the first people to explore pure mathematics, apart form practical problems. The Greeks made important advances by introducing the concept of logical deduction and proof in order to create a systematic theory of mathematics. The Ancient Greeks had a tremendous effects on modern mathematics.

Much that was written by the mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes has been preserved.

Euclid is known for his `Elements', much of which was drawn from his predecessor Eudoxus of Cnidus.

The `Elements' is a treatise on geometry, and it has exerted a continuing influence on mathematics.

From Archimedes several treatises have come down to the present.

Among them are `Measurement of the Circle', in which he worked out the value of pi; `Method Concerning Mechanical Theorems', on his work in mechanics; `The Sand-Reckoner'; and `On Floating Bodies'.

Platonic Solids - Plato.

The physician Galen, in the history of ancient science, is the most significant person in medicine after Hippocrates, who laid the foundation of medicine in the 5th century BC .

Galen lived during the 2nd century AD. He was a careful student of anatomy, and his works exerted a powerful influence on medicine for the next 1,400 years.

Strabo, who died about AD 23, was a geographer and historian. His `Historical Sketches' in 47 volumes has nearly all been lost.

His `Geographical Sketches' remain as the only existing ancient book covering the whole range of people and countries known to the Greeks and Romans through the time of Augustus.

Pausanias, who lived in the 2nd century AD, was also a geographer. His `Description of Greece' is an invaluable guide to what are now ancient ruins. His book takes the form of a tour of Greece, starting in Athens. The accuracy of his descriptions has been proved by archaeological excavations.

The scientist of the Roman period who had the greatest influence on later generations was undoubtedly the astronomer Ptolemy.

He lived during the 2nd century AD, though little is known of his life. His masterpiece, originally entitled `The Mathematical Collection', has come to the present under the title `Almagest', as it was translated by Arab astronomers with that title.

It was Ptolemy who devised a detailed description of an Earth-centered universe, an erroneous notion that dominated astronomical thinking for more than 1,300 years.

The Ptolemaic view of the universe endured until the early modern astronomers Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler overturned it.




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