Euclidean geometry, the study of plane and solid figures on the basis of axioms and

theorems employed by the Greek mathematician Euclid (c. 300 bce). In its rough
outline, Euclidean geometry is the plane and solid geometry commonly taught in
secondary schools. Indeed, until the second half of the 19th century, when
non-Euclidean geometries attracted the attention of mathematicians, geometry meant
Euclidean geometry. It is the most typical expression of general mathematical thinking.
Rather than the memorization of simple algorithms to solve equations by rote, it
demands true insight into the subject, clever ideas for applying theorems in special
situations, an ability to generalize from known facts, and an insistence on the
importance of proof. In Euclid’s great work, the Elements, the only tools employed for
geometrical constructions were the ruler and the compass—a restriction retained in
elementary Euclidean geometry to this day.

In its rigorous deductive organization, the Elements remained the very model of
scientific exposition until the end of the 19th century, when the German
mathematician David Hilbert wrote his famous Foundations of Geometry (1899). The
modern version of Euclidean geometry is the theory of Euclidean (coordinate) spaces
of multiple dimensions, where distance is measured by a suitable generalization of the
Pythagorean theorem.

Fundamentals

Euclid realized that a rigorous development of geometry must start with the
foundations. Hence, he began the Elements with some undefined terms, such as “a
point is that which has no part” and “a line is a length without breadth.” Proceeding
from these terms, he defined further ideas such as angles, circles, triangles, and
various other polygons and figures. For example, an angle was defined as the
inclination of two straight lines, and a circle was a plane figure consisting of all points
that have a fixed distance (radius) from a given centre.

As a basis for further logical deductions, Euclid proposed five common notions, such
as “things equal to the same thing are equal,” and five unprovable but intuitive
principles known variously as postulates or axioms. Stated in modern terms, the
axioms are as follows:

1. Given two points, there is a straight line that joins them.

2. A straight line segment can be prolonged indefinitely.
3. A circle can be constructed when a point for its centre and a distance for its
radius are given.
4. All right angles are equal.
5. If a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior angles on the
same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if produced
indefinitely, will meet on that side on which the angles are less than the two
right angles.

Hilbert refined axioms (1) and (5) as follows:


 1. For any two different points, (a) there exists a line containing these two
points, and (b) this line is unique.




5. For any line L and point p not on L, (a) there exists a line through p not
meeting L, and (b) this line is unique.

The fifth axiom became known as the “parallel postulate,” since it provided a basis for
the uniqueness of parallel lines. (It also attracted great interest because it seemed
less intuitive or self-evident than the others. In the 19th century, Carl Friedrich Gauss,
János Bolyai, and Nikolay Lobachevsky all began to experiment with this postulate,
eventually arriving at new, non-Euclidean, geometries.) All five axioms provided the
basis for numerous provable statements, or theorems, on which Euclid built his
geometry. The rest of this article briefly explains the most important theorems of
Euclidean plane and solid geometry.

Euclidean geometry

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key people

 Euclid
 David Hilbert
 Maryam Mirzakhani
 Adrien-Marie Legendre

related topics

 Geometry
 Pythagorean theorem
 Method of exhaustion
 Euclidean space
 Quadrature
  Parallel postulate
 Method of indivisibles
 Cavalieri’s principle
 Parallel lines
 Archimedes’ axiom

Plane geometry

Congruence of triangles

Two triangles are said to be congruent if one can be exactly superimposed on the
other by a rigid motion, and the congruence theorems specify the conditions under
which this can occur. The first such theorem is the side-angle-side (SAS) theorem: If
two sides and the included angle of one triangle are equal to two sides and the
included angle of another triangle, the triangles are congruent. Following this, there
are corresponding angle-side-angle (ASA) and side-side-side (SSS) theorems.

The figure illustrates the three basic theorems that triangles are congruent (of equal
shape and size) if: two sides and the included angle are equal (SAS); two angles and
the included side are equal (ASA); or all three sides are equal (SSS).Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc.

The first very useful theorem derived from the axioms is the basic symmetry property
of isosceles triangles—i.e., that two sides of a triangle are equal if and only if the
angles opposite them are equal. Euclid’s proof of this theorem was once called Pons
Asinorum (“Bridge of Asses”), supposedly because mediocre students could not
proceed across it to the farther reaches of geometry. (For an illustrated exposition of
the proof, see Sidebar: The Bridge of Asses.) The Bridge of Asses opens the way to
various theorems on the congruence of triangles.

The parallel postulate is fundamental for the proof of the theorem that the sum of the
angles of a triangle is always 180 degrees. A simple proof of this theorem was
attributed to the Pythagoreans.
Proof that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees.According to an ancient
theorem, a transversal through two parallel lines (DE and AB in the figure) forms
several equal angles, such as the alternating angles α/α' and β/β', labeled in the figure.
By definition, the three angles α', γ, and β' on the line DE must sum to 180 degrees.
Since α = α' and β = β', the sum of the angles in the triangle (α, β, and γ) is also 180
degrees.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Similarity of triangles

As indicated above, congruent figures have the same shape and size. Similar figures,
on the other hand, have the same shape but may differ in size. Shape is intimately
related to the notion of proportion, as ancient Egyptian artisans observed long ago.
Segments of lengths a, b, c, and d are said to be proportional if a:b = c:d (read, a is to
b as c is to d; in older notation a:b::c:d). The fundamental theorem of similarity states
that a line segment splits two sides of a triangle into proportional segments if and only
if the segment is parallel to the triangle’s third side.

The formula in the figure reads k is to l as m is to n if and only if line DE is parallel to

line AB. This theorem then enables one to show that the small and large triangles are
similar.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The similarity theorem may be reformulated as the AAA (angle-angle-angle) similarity

theorem: two triangles have their corresponding angles equal if and only if their
corresponding sides are proportional. Two similar triangles are related by a scaling (or
similarity) factor s: if the first triangle has sides a, b, and c, then the second one will
have sides sa, sb, and sc. In addition to the ubiquitous use of scaling factors on
construction plans and geographic maps, similarity is fundamental to trigonometry.
Areas

Just as a segment can be measured by comparing it with a unit segment, the area of
a polygon or other plane figure can be measured by comparing it with a unit square.
The common formulas for calculating areas reduce this kind of measurement to the
measurement of certain suitable lengths. The simplest case is a rectangle with sides a
and b, which has area ab. By putting a triangle into an appropriate rectangle, one can
show that the area of the triangle is half the product of the length of one of its bases
and its corresponding height—bh/2. One can then compute the area of a general
polygon by dissecting it into triangular regions. If a triangle (or more general figure)
has area A, a similar triangle (or figure) with a scaling factor of s will have an area of
s2A.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Pythagorean theorem

For a triangle △ABC the Pythagorean theorem has two parts: (1) if ∠ACB is a right
angle, then a2 + b2 = c2; (2) if a2 + b2 = c2, then ∠ACB is a right angle. For an arbitrary
triangle, the Pythagorean theorem is generalized to the law of cosines: a2 + b2 = c2 −
2ab cos (∠ACB). When ∠ACB is 90 degrees, this reduces to the Pythagorean
theorem because cos (90°) = 0.

Since Euclid, a host of professional and amateur mathematicians (even U.S.

President James Garfield) have found more than 300 distinct proofs of the
Pythagorean theorem. Despite its antiquity, it remains one of the most important
theorems in mathematics. It enables one to calculate distances or, more important, to
define distances in situations far more general than elementary geometry. For
example, it has been generalized to multidimensional vector spaces.

Circles
A chord AB is a segment in the interior of a circle connecting two points (A and B) on
the circumference. When a chord passes through the circle’s centre, it is a diameter, d.
The circumference of a circle is given by πd, or 2πr where r is the radius of the circle;
the area of a circle is πr2. In each case, π is the same constant (3.14159…). The
Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287–212/211 bce) used the method of
exhaustion to obtain upper and lower bounds for π by circumscribing and inscribing
regular polygons about a circle.

A semicircle has its end points on a diameter of a circle. Thales (flourished 6th century
bce) is generally credited with having proved that any angle inscribed in a semicircle
is a right angle; that is, for any point C on the semicircle with diameter AB, ∠ACB will
always be 90 degrees (see Sidebar: Thales’ Rectangle). Another important theorem
states that for any chord AB in a circle, the angle subtended by any point on the same
semiarc of the circle will be invariant. Slightly modified, this means that in a circle,
equal chords determine equal angles, and vice versa.

Thales of Miletus (fl. c. 600 bc) is generally credited with giving the first proof that for
any chord AB in a circle, all of the angles subtended by points anywhere on the same
semiarc of the circle will be equal.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Summarizing the above material, the five most important theorems of plane Euclidean
geometry are: the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees, the Bridge of Asses,
the fundamental theorem of similarity, the Pythagorean theorem, and the invariance
of angles subtended by a chord in a circle. Most of the more advanced theorems of
plane Euclidean geometry are proved with the help of these theorems.

Regular polygons

A polygon is called regular if it has equal sides and angles. Thus, a regular triangle is
an equilateral triangle, and a regular quadrilateral is a square. A general problem
since antiquity has been the problem of constructing a regular n-gon, for different n,
with only ruler and compass. For example, Euclid constructed a regular pentagon by
applying the above-mentioned five important theorems in an ingenious combination.
Techniques, such as bisecting the angles of known constructions, exist for
constructing regular n-gons for many values, but none is known for the general case.
In 1797, following centuries without any progress, Gauss surprised the mathematical
community by discovering a construction for the 17-gon. More generally, Gauss was
able to show that for a prime number p, the regular p-gon is constructible if and only if
p is a “Fermat prime”: p = F(k) = 22k + 1. Because it is not known in general which F(k)
are prime, the construction problem for regular n-gons is still open.

Three other unsolved construction problems from antiquity were finally settled in the
19th century by applying tools not available to the Greeks. Comparatively simple
algebraic methods showed that it is not possible to trisect an angle with ruler and
compass or to construct a cube with a volume double that of a given cube. Showing
that it is not possible to square a circle (i.e., to construct a square equal in area to a
given circle by the same means), however, demanded deeper insights into the nature
of the number π. See geometry: The three classical problems.

Conic sections and geometric art

The most advanced part of plane Euclidean geometry is the theory of the conic
sections (the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola). Much as the Elements
displaced all other introductions to geometry, the Conics of Apollonius of Perga (c.
240–190 bce), known by his contemporaries as “the Great Geometer,” was for many
centuries the definitive treatise on the subject.

Medieval Islamic artists explored ways of using geometric figures for decoration. For
example, the decorations of the Alhambra of Granada, Spain, demonstrate an
understanding of all 17 of the different “Wallpaper groups” that can be used to tile the
plane. In the 20th century, internationally renowned artists such as Josef Albers, Max
Bill, and Sol LeWitt were inspired by motifs from Euclidean geometry.

Solid geometry

The most important difference between plane and solid Euclidean geometry is that
human beings can look at the plane “from above,” whereas three-dimensional space
cannot be looked at “from outside.” Consequently, intuitive insights are more difficult
to obtain for solid geometry than for plane geometry.

Some concepts, such as proportions and angles, remain unchanged from plane to
solid geometry. For other familiar concepts, there exist analogies—most noticeably,
volume for area and three-dimensional shapes for two-dimensional shapes (sphere
for circle, tetrahedron for triangle, box for rectangle). However, the theory of
tetrahedra is not nearly as rich as it is for triangles. Active research in
higher-dimensional Euclidean geometry includes convexity and sphere packings and
their applications in cryptology and crystallography (see crystal: Structure).

Volume
As explained above, in plane geometry the area of any polygon can be calculated by
dissecting it into triangles. A similar procedure is not possible for solids. In 1901 the
German mathematician Max Dehn showed that there exist a cube and a tetrahedron
of equal volume that cannot be dissected and rearranged into each other. This means
that calculus must be used to calculate volumes for even many simple solids such as
pyramids.

Regular solids

Regular polyhedra are the solid analogies to regular polygons in the plane. Regular
polygons are defined as having equal (congruent) sides and angles. In analogy, a
solid is called regular if its faces are congruent regular polygons and its polyhedral
angles (angles at which the faces meet) are congruent. This concept has been
generalized to higher-dimensional (coordinate) Euclidean spaces.

Whereas in the plane there exist (in theory) infinitely many regular polygons, in
three-dimensional space there exist exactly five regular polyhedra. These are known
as the Platonic solids: the tetrahedron, or pyramid, with 4 triangular faces; the cube,
with 6 square faces; the octahedron, with 8 equilateral triangular faces; the
dodecahedron, with 12 pentagonal faces; and the icosahedron, with 20 equilateral
triangular faces.

The five Platonic solidsThese are the only geometric solids whose faces are
composed of regular, identical polygons. Placing the cursor on each figure will show it
in animation.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In four-dimensional space there exist exactly six regular polytopes, five of them
generalizations from three-dimensional space. In any space of more than four
dimensions, there exist exactly three regular polytopes—the generalizations of the
tetrahedron, the cube, and the octahedron.

Benno Artmann
Calculating areas and volumes

The table presents mathematical formulas for calculating the areas of various plane
figures and the volumes of various solid figures.

Mathematical formulas

shape action formula

circumference circle multiply diameter by π πd

circle multiply radius squared by π πr2

rectangle multiply height by length hl

sphere
multiply radius squared by π by 4 4πr2
surface
area
square length of one side squared s2

parallel side length A + parallel side length B (A +

trapezoid
multiplied by height and divided by 2 B)h/2

triangle multiply base by height and divide by 2 hb/2

multiply base radius squared by π by height

cone br2πh/3
and divide by 3

cube length of one edge cubed a3

volume cylinder multiply base radius squared by π by height br2πh

multiply base length by base width by height

pyramid lwh/3
and divide by 3

sphere multiply radius cubed by π by 4 and divide by 3 4πr3/3

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