Q 01/05

Euclid is traditionally known by what title?

A) The father of algebra

B) The father of geometry

C) The father of astronomy

D) The father of logic

Answer · why

B) The father of geometry

The father of geometry set out a system that went unchallenged until the early 19th century; only when rival geometries appeared did his need a name o...

Q 02/05

What is the Greek title of Euclid's great treatise, the Elements?

A) Arithmetika

B) Syntaxis

C) Stoicheia

D) Organon

Answer · why

C) Stoicheia

Stoicheia was also the Greek word for the letters of the alphabet, and Proclus said its leading theorems serve the rest of geometry as letters serve a...

Q 03/05

How many books make up the Elements?

A) Four

B) Thirteen

C) Thirty

D) Sixty-six

Answer · why

B) Thirteen

Thirteen books are Euclid's own, yet for centuries editions ran to fifteen: two extra books by later hands, the first of them by Hypsicles, travelled ...

Q 04/05

In which city is Euclid generally accepted to have spent his career?

A) Athens

B) Alexandria

C) Syracuse

D) Rhodes

Answer · why

B) Alexandria

Alexandria: Pappus records that a later geometer spent years there with Euclid's pupils, the main evidence that Euclid taught in the city and founded ...

Q 05/05

Under which ruler's reign did Proclus place Euclid's activity?

A) Alexander the Great

B) Cleopatra VII

C) Ptolemy I

D) Pericles

Answer · why

C) Ptolemy I

Ptolemy I was one of Alexander the Great's generals and made himself a king when the empire was carved up; Proclus, writing seven centuries later, dat...