Q 01/05

Which ancient Greek is known as the father of geometry for his treatise the Elements?

A) Euclid

B) Pythagoras

C) Archimedes

D) Thales

Answer · why

A) Euclid

He worked in Alexandria around 300 BC and deduced his theorems from a small set of axioms.

Q 02/05

Archimedes asked for which two shapes to be placed on his tomb?

A) A circle and a square

B) A cone and a cube

C) A sphere and a cylinder

D) A spiral and a triangle

Answer · why

C) A sphere and a cylinder

Cicero later visited the tomb in Syracuse; Archimedes had found the relation between the two volumes.

Q 03/05

In which Sicilian city did Archimedes live and die during a Roman siege?

A) Palermo

B) Syracuse

C) Messina

D) Agrigento

Answer · why

B) Syracuse

He was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he be spared.

Q 04/05

Pythagoras founded his secretive school in which southern Italian town around 530 BC?

A) Syracuse

B) Tarentum

C) Naples

D) Croton

Answer · why

D) Croton

Initiates were sworn to secrecy and lived a communal, ascetic life.

Q 05/05

Thales of Miletus believed all of nature was based on which single substance?

A) Fire

B) Air

C) Earth

D) Water

Answer · why

D) Water

He even thought the Earth floated on it; he is often called the first Greek philosopher.