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Geometric thought and discoveries were brought together in a
set of thirteen volumes called the Elements. Due to the
survival of and superiority to other such works, the Elements is
considered to be one of the greatest text books of all time. The Elements
contains such topics as the theory of incommensurables and of numbers, as well as plane and solid geometry. The only
other book of which more copies have been made is the Bible. As the
author of this book, Euclid is thought to be the greatest
mathematical teacher of all time.
The beginning of the book was dedicated to the following five
geometric postulates.
- A straight line can be drawn between any two points.
- A straight line can be extended indefinitely.
- A circle can be described by its centre and radius.
- All right angles are equal to one another.
- One and only one line can be drawn through a point parallel to a given line.
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