Lesson 1.

1 Euclid and The Elements

Lesson Summary

This lesson will introduce you to a brief history of Euclid and his book “The
Elements”. The five postulates and some of the contents of “The Elements” will be
presented in this lesson. These postulates will serve as our guide to connect Euclidean
Geometry to other modern Geometries.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you are expected to’

a. illustrate and discuss Euclid’s postulates
b. recall the basic concepts of Euclidean Geometry

Motivation Question

Did you know how Euclid come up with his book “The Elements”? Are all the
contents of the book based on his own ideas? How does Euclid’s Postulates affect the
modern view in geometry?

Discussion

Euclid and the Elements

“There is no royal road to Geometry”, a popular line from Euclid when he was
asked by the Egyptian king Ptolemy I “if there was in Geometry a shorter way than that
of the Elements”.

Euclid is a famous Greek mathematician, and considered the

Father of Geometry. Little is known about the life of Euclid. He was
born around 365 B.C. in Alexandria, Egypt until 300 B.C. Why does
a Greek a mathematician, like Euclid, born and lived in Egypt?
 His most famous work, the Elements, is considered “the most studied books apart
from the Bible”, and centuries. The Elements is a collection of
13 books that exhibits fundamental concepts and principles of
geometry, which we now called Euclidean Geometry.

The Elements is composed of 131 definitions, 5

postulates, 5 common notions, and 465 propositions. Euclid’s
axiomatic approach becomes successful that it became the
model for scientific theories, not only in mathematics.

What is an axiomatic system? Give examples of scientific and mathematical

theories that follow an axiomatic approach?

Axiomatic Structure of Euclidean Geometry

Euclid’s axiomatic approach in creating the Elements became the first system of
thought based on formal definitions, axioms, propositions, and rules of logic. Euclid only
used straightedge and compass in all the geometric constructions found in the Elements.
In this section, we will discuss some of the basic definitions, axioms, postulates, and
propositions and restate them using contemporary language.

The table below outlines the topics for each 13 books in the Elements.
Book Topic
1 The fundamentals of Geometry: Theories of triangles, parallels and
areas
2 Geometric algebra
3 Theory of circles
4 Constructions for inscribed and circumscribed figures
5 Theory of abstract proportions
6 Similar figures and proportions in geometry
7 Fundamentals of number theory
8 Continued proportions in number theory
9 Number theory
10 Classification of incommensurables
11 Solid geometry
12 Measurement of figures
13 Regular solids
 In Book 1, Euclid presented 23 definitions, 5 postulates, 5 common notions and 48
propositions. The postulates and common notions are statements assumed to be true,
i.e., no proofs are needed. From these and the definitions, the different propositions
(theorems) are deduced from through a formal process of logic.

Take a look at the 5 postulates of Euclid and try to restate it in your own words
using our contemporary language and how you understand them.

POSTULATES
1. To draw a straight line from any point to any point.
2. To produce a finite straight line continuously in a straight line.
3. To describe a circle with any center and distance.
4. That all right angles are equal to one another.
5. That, if a straight line falling on two straight lines make 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.

The first four postulates are simple and self-evident that we cannot think that they
might be false. However, the fifth postulate arises controversial debate among
mathematicians for a long time. Aside from being lengthy and complicated, many tried to
deduce it from the first four postulates, but they failed. Instead, these attempts to prove it
led to a different kind of geometry. This will be discussed in the next section.

Below are the 5 Axioms of Euclid. These statements, like the postulates, are
accepted to be mathematically true. What do you think is the difference between these
and the previous 5 postulates?
AXIOMS
1. Things equal to the same thing are also equal to one another.
2. And if equal things are added to equal things, then the wholes are equal.
3. And if equal things are subtracted from equal things, then the remainders are
equal.
4. And things coinciding with one another are equal to one another.
5. And the whole is greater than the part.
 These axioms are general statements independent from the concept of geometry,
unlike the 5 postulates.

Here are some of the basic definitions in Book 1 (that you might be familiar with).
The numbering is based on how it is presented in the Elements.

Definitions
1 A point is that of which there is no part.
2 And a line is a length without breadth.
5 And a surface is that which has length and breadth only.
8 And a plane angle is the inclination of the lines to one another, when two lines in a plane
meet one another, and are not lying in a straight-line.
10 And when a straight-line stood upon (another) straight-line makes adjacent angles (which
are) equal to one another, each of the equal angles is a right - angle, and the former
straight-line is called a perpendicular to that upon which it stands.

11 An obtuse angle is one greater than a right-angle.

12 And an acute angle (is) one less than a right-angle.
15 A circle is a plane figure contained by a single line, (such that) all of the straight -lines
radiating towards it from one point amongst those lying inside the figure are equal to one
another.
19 Rectilinear figures are those (figures) contained by straight-lines: trilateral figures being
those contained by three straight-lines, quadrilateral by four, and multi- lateral by more
than four.
23 Parallel lines are straight-lines which, being in the same plane, and being produced to
infinity in each direction, meet with one another in neither (of these directions).

The first three definitions in the table give you the three “undefined terms” in
geometry. What are these? Why are they considered undefined? Let us state the first
three definitions using our contemporary language.

1. A point has no dimension.

2. A line has only length.
5. A plane has only length and width.
Observe that these terms were only described in terms of dimensions. There is no
formal definition given unlike the rest of the terms used in the Elements. They became
the building blocks in formally defining the rest of the words and theorems in geometry.
 Definitions 8, 11, and 12 refer to the definitions of an angle, obtuse angle, and
acute angle, respectively. Notice that obtuse and acute angle are basically defined in
terms of being greater or less than the right angle. How do you define these terms at
present?

Definition 10 uses the words adjacent and perpendicular, and gives the idea of a
right angle. Definition 15 refers to the circle. If we state that using contemporary language,
we have the following definition:

Definition 15. A circle is a set of all points in a plane equidistant from a given point, called
the center of the circle.

What do you think are “rectilinear figures” stated in Definition 19? Definition 23
defines the parallel lines. Book 1 Proposition 47 gives you the Pythagorean theorem. A
lot of proofs were done for this theorem, from simple to complicated proofs, geometric to
algebraic proofs. We will discuss Euclid’s proof of the Pythagorean theorem in the next
lesson.

Proposition 47. In right-angled triangles, the square on the side subtending the right-
angle is equal to the (sum of the) squares on the sides containing the right-angle.

Modern version: In a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of
the squares of the two legs.

References:
Garcia, E. G. (2020). Euclidean Geometry. Leyte Normal University.
Stillwell, J. (2005). The four pillars of geometry. Springer Science+Business Media,Inc.
Thomas, D. (2002). Modern geometry. Wadsworth group. Brookes/Cole