I decided to take a look at the history of geometry. Geometry is used in numerous professions related to engineering, architecture and space exploration. It was used by Greeks and Egyptians in building their pyramids and monuments. Geometry, by definition, is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of shapes and space. Egyptians, specifically Egyptian priests, have been noted to invent the science of studying shapes and space around 580 B.C. Beginning in 300 B.C., the first of 12 books were written by Euclid, who collected the elementary truths of Geometry and many were used in schools. The Euclidean thought of Geometry then became well known and respected. Euclid’s first book included information such as shapes occur in the real world, parallel lines never meet, and the angels in a triangle always add up to 180 degrees.
One quote I found interesting was from Thomas Hill in 1855. He wrote in the preface of the book, First Lessons of Geometry, “I have addressed the child’s imagination rather than his reason, because I wished to teach him to conceive of forms. The child's powers of sensation are developed before his powers of conception, and these before his reasoning powers. This is, therefore, the true order of education.”
Maybe we should be introducing Geometry at an early age.
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2 comments:
I love that you provided us with some of history of geometry. It helps to think about how it relates to real life, and how it related to life in 580BC. The pyrimads are a great example of geometry- and could not have been built without knowledge of geometry.
Thank you for sharing this, I so enjoyed reading more about the history of geometry (something that I never would have thought to investegated on my own :). It is interested to know where this stems from and how this information truly does play a role in our everyday lives, whether we think about it or not. Great ideas here!
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