Q 01/05

Which ancient Greek mathematician wrote the Elements?

A) Euclid

B) Pythagoras

C) Archimedes

D) Thales

Answer · why

A) Euclid

Euclid: very little is known about his life, yet his Elements shaped geometry until the early 19th century.

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

A sphere and a cylinder: Cicero later found what he took to be his neglected tomb, overgrown with brambles, and had it cleared.

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

Syracuse: his war machines are said to have held up the besieging Romans for a long time before a soldier killed him when the city fell.

Q 04/05

Pythagoras founded his secretive school in which southern Italian town?

A) Sybaris

B) Tarentum

C) Naples

D) Croton

Answer · why

D) Croton

Croton: after the city crushed its neighbour Sybaris around 510 BC, his followers were drawn into its political feuds.

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

Water: he pictured the Earth floating on it and is said to have explained earthquakes as the water rocking it.