Greek Geometry (b) | Math History | NJ Wildberger

The ancient Greeks loved geometry and made great advances in this subject. Euclid’s Elements was for 2000 years the main text in mathematics, giving a careful systematic treatment of both planar and three dimensional geometry, culminating in the five Platonic solids. Apollonius made a thorough study of conics: ellipse, parabola and hyperbola. Constructions played a key role, using straightedge and compass. This is one of a series of lectures on the History of Mathematics by Assoc. Prof. N J Wildberger at UNSW. Video Contents: 00:00 Introduction to Greek Geometry 00:30 Apollonius (200 BC)- Conic sections 07:16 Pole and Polar 10:50 Determining the polar line 12:48 If X lies on the polar line of Y, then Y lies on the polar line of X 15:10 Cone approach to conic sections (Dandelin-19th Century) 19:42 Pappus (100 AD) 21:34 Pappus’ theorem (projective geometry!) ************************ Screenshot PDFs for my videos are available at the website h