The Elements by Euclid Placed on the BA Shelves on the Occasion of Its Fifth Anniversary
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Alexandria—
The BA celebrates its fifth anniversary on the 23-24 October 2007. Since its inauguration on 16 October 2007, the BA has been developing its acquisitions of books, publications, and rarities. The celebrations this year will include the addition of book number 555,555 to the BA's rapidly growing collection. The book is valuable edition of a work originally written in the third century B.C. by Euclid, the Father of Mathematics. The newly acquired edition dates from the sixteenth century and was published in Germany.
Although Euclid is the most renowned name in the history of mathematics, very little is known about his life. However, according to information derived from accounts of his ancient commentators (in particular Proclus and Pappus), we can ascertain that he was closely associated with early Alexandria, where he lived and taught under the rule of Ptolemy I (323-285 B.C.); and founded his highly reputed school of mathematics, which continued to attract students and scholars, decades after him. We are told by Pappus that the great mathematician and astronomer Apollonius of Perga (262-190 B.C.) is said to have been a “pupil in Alexandria of the pupils of Euclid.” It is also in Alexandria, where he wrote his eternal book the Elements.
The Elements is a massive work of thirteen books that explores various aspects of geometry and mathematics, which can be summed up as follows: books 1-6 on plane geometry, 7-9 on the theory of numbers, 10 on irrationals (numbers), 11-13 on solid geometry. The most interesting parts of the Elements is the fifth postulate (parallels postulates), the theory of proportionality in book 5, and the presentation of ‘irrationals’ in book 10.
There is a common misunderstanding that the Elements is a book on geometry only. In fact, it also deals with algebra and the theory of numbers. Peoples of the world realized the importance of the book, and thus, it was translated to most languages of the world, explained and commented on, and is among the best books studied through the past 24 centuries.
For updates and information on the BA fifth anniversary celebrations, click here.