GEOMETRY

Geometry is an indispensable tool of mankind. Without geometry the world and our lives in it would be totally different from what they are. Yet because it is a branch of mathematics that is used constantly by the builder, the engineer, the navigator, the astronomer, many people believe that geometry is too technical a subject for them to understand. In fact, the average textbook on geometry, with its cold, precise diagrams, its countless proofs, its dry terminology, often discourages the student who learns the subject for the first time.

In 350 В. С. a Greek mathematician named Euclid compiled out of the disorganized geometry of his day a set of rules concerning space and shapes that seemed so basic and true that no one changed it for two thousand years.

Under his guidance, geometry became an organized body of knowledge concerning the relations, properties, and measurements of lines, angles, surfaces and solids.

Even today, most textbooks on geometry follow the plan of Euclid's writings, often using his own diagrams, methods of proof, and ways of stating geometrical truths.

geometrical truths геометрические истины

an indispensable tool зд. незаменимое средство

a set of rules комплект правил