C Antonio Cruz

Math 262
Fall 2009

The development of geometry: Euclidean

Geometry to Non-Euclidean Geometry.

Have you ever wonder who wrote the definitions that we used in geometry class? Or
what is it called Euclidean geometry? Well, the name Euclidean comes from the Greek
mathematician Euclid. He wrote a book called “Elements”, it was first systematic discussion of
geometry.  While many of Euclid's findings had been previously stated by earlier Greek
mathematicians, Euclid is credited with developing the first comprehensive deductive system. 
Euclid's approach to geometry consisted of proving all theorems from a finite number of
postulates (axioms). 

But what is Euclidean geometry? Well, Euclidian geometry is the study of geometry
based on definitions, undefined terms (point, line and plane. It is an axiomatic system, in which
all theorems ("true statements") are derived from a small number of axioms. It is the geometry
that we learned in high school, the definitions we learned and the theorems we had to memorize
in order to find a solution for a geometric figure.
In order to understand better Euclidean geometry, we need to know the definition of
an axiom, because Euclidean based his geometry in five axioms or postulates. Well, an axioms
(or postulates) are a list of rules that define the basic relationships among the undefined terms
and make clear the fundamentals facts about a system. Axioms are always true for the system.
No deviation from the facts they state is permitted in working with the system.

Euclidean’s five postulates are:

AXIOM 1. Two points determine a unique straight line.
This axiom simple says that if you have any two points--A and B, say--then you can always
connect them with a straight line.
C Antonio Cruz
Math 262
Fall 2009

AXIOM 2. A straight line extends indefinitely far in either direction.

It tells us that we can always make a line segment longer. That means that we never run out of
space; that is, space is infinite.

AXIOM 3. A circle may be drawn with any given center and any given radius.
It allows for the existence of circles of any size and center--say center A and radius AB.

AXIOM 4. All right angles are equal.

It just says that whenever we create a right angle by erecting perpendiculars, the angles so
created are always the same.

AXIOM 5. The parallel postulate: That, if a straight line falling on two straight lines make the
interior angles on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if produced
indefinitely, meet on that side on which are the angles less than the two right angles.
C Antonio Cruz
Math 262
Fall 2009

In the first three axioms, Euclid assumes the existence of points, lines, and circles. The
first axiom may also be interpreted as asserting the uniqueness of the straight line between two
given points. Similarly, the third is interpreted as asserting the continuity and infinite extent of
space in this way: the radius of the circle may be indefinitely small, which implies that there is
no minimum distance between two points in space -- thus space is continuous; on the other hand,
the radius may be indefinitely large, so there is no maximum distance between two points in
space. It is entirely possible that Euclid saw the ``uniqueness'' interpretation of the first postulate,
but it is doubtful that he interpreted the third in the above manner.

The fourth and fifth axioms were long thought to be theorems that could be proved. The fourth
asserts that the right angle is a determinant magnitude, against which all other angles may be
measured. In a separate definition Euclid defines parallel lines to be any two lines in the same
plane which do not meet, that is, do not have any points in common. Thus, Axiom 5 asserts the
existence of parallel lines.

Many other axioms were added including:

AXIOM 6. Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.

AXIOM 7. If equals be added to equals, the sums are equal.

AXIOM 8. If equals be subtracted from equals, the remainders are equal.

C Antonio Cruz
Math 262
Fall 2009

AXIOM 9. Figures which can be made to coincide are equal (congruent).

AXIOM 10. The whole is greater than any part.

Even thought the Euclidean geometry has been accepted, there appeared to be a problem
with the parallel postulate (fifth postulate). This postulate is more complex than the other four,
suggesting that it could be deduced from them alone and need not be assumed true to begin with.
After many centuries and many attempts to prove that the parallel postulate was wrong, a Non-
Euclidean geometry was established.

But you may wonder what non Euclidian geometry is? Well, non-Euclidean geometry is
any geometry that is different from Euclidean geometry.Non-Euclidean Geometry is not not
Euclidean Geometry. The term is usually applied only to the special geometries that are obtained
by negating the parallel postulate but keeping the other axioms of Euclidean Geometry.

One of first people to attempt to prove Euclid's parallel postulate by contradiction, was
Girolamo Saccheri. He proved that the hypothesis of the obtuse angle implied the fifth postulate,
so obtaining a contradiction. Saccheri then studied the hypothesis of the acute angle and derived
many theorems of non-Euclidean geometry without realizing what he was doing. However he
eventually 'proved' that the hypothesis of the acute angle led to a contradiction by assuming that
there is a 'point at infinity' which lies on a plane. He was followed in 1766 by Johann Lambert,
who only succeeded in making some more interesting observations about triangles.

However by 1817 Gauss had become convinced that the fifth postulate was independent
of the other four postulates. Gauss discussed the theory of parallels with his friend, the
mathematician Farkas Bolyai who made several false proofs of the parallel postulate. Perhaps
most surprisingly of all Gauss never published this work but kept it a secret. At this time thinking
was dominated by Kant who had stated that Euclidean geometry is the inevitable necessity of
thought and Gauss disliked controversy. Finally, in 1825 Janos Bolyai wrote a treatise that
claimed the existence of hyperbolic geometry. This was published in 1832, thereby punching
through the floodgate and forcing the world to recognize that geometry was not a field of study
that had long since been investigated to exhaustion by the ancient Greeks.
C Antonio Cruz
Math 262
Fall 2009

In 1840, Lobachevsky published Geometrical investigations on the theory of parallels. The

publication of an account in French in Crelle's Journal in 1837 brought his work on non-
Euclidean geometry to a wide audience but the mathematical community was not ready to accept
ideas so revolutionary.

In Lobachevsky's 1840 booklet he explains clearly how his non-Euclidean geometry works.

The first person to put the Bolyai - Lobachevsky non-Euclidean geometry on the same footing as
Euclidean geometry was Eugenio Beltrami (1835-1900). In 1868 he wrote a paper Essay on the
interpretation of non-Euclidean geometry which produced a model for 2-dimensional non-
Euclidean geometry within 3-dimensional Euclidean geometry. The model was obtained on the
surface of revolution of a tractrix about its asymptote. This is sometimes called a pseudo-sphere.

In conclusion, the Euclidian and non Euclidian geometry have been very important in the
human history, greatest scientist such as Albert Einstein had not developed the theory of
relativity without the foundations of the Euclidian geometry. Euclidian and non Euclidian have
been and will continue to be great subjects to study.