When Does a Line Become a Shape?

When Does a Line Become a Shape? — page 1

When Does a Line Become a Shape? — page 2 — W hen you think about mathematics you probably think about a class at school where you do calculations and answer word problems But have you ever thought about math being all around you It’s in every shape and pattern you see It’s in every song you hear It’s in every game you play and any puzzle you solve The first mathematicians realized this and they looked for ways to prove it to show how order and reason could explain much about life as they knew it Sometimes this was easy to do But other times people just didn’t get it Even some of the most intelligent people in history have struggled with math Albert Einstein once wrote to a child Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics I can assure you mine are still greater So how can you use whatever you know about math in everyday life When you classify the insects that you see on the playground measure the length between two cities on a map or circle a question you don’t understand on your homework you are using math In such cases you are using a type of math known as geometry This is one of the oldest branches of mathematics and it is concerned with the shapes all around you When does geometry become evident in your life 5

When Does a Line Become a Shape? — page 3 — EUCLID'S BUILDING BLOCKS GEOMETRY IS THE MATHEMATICS OF MEASURING THE EARTH More than 2,000 years ago the ancient Greeks looked at the shapes in the world around them and want ed to systematically capture what they saw One of the first math ematicians to do this in a formal way was Euclid of Alexandria He discussed his own ideas and those of mathematicians before him in 13 books called Euclid’s Elements These books formed the basis of geometry and many of Euclid’s ideas are still taught in classrooms today Euclid centered his work on five postulates or statements that are believed to be true without requiring proof Over the years the truth of the fifth postulate has been questioned However the geometry you learn accepts the fifth postulate to be true just as Euclid did Euclid also had five common notions that he believed to be true for numbers as well as shapes With only these 10 axioms or basic assumptions Euclid was able to create 465 new ideas about geometry You still learn about Euclid’s ideas today and honor EMPHASIZES HIS SCHOLARLY PURSUITS A 17TH-CENTURY PAINTING OF EUCLID 6

When Does a Line Become a Shape? — page 4

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