Is Euclid prerequisite to Archimedes?

[bguidry17]

Hi, I am a high school student interested in physics/math. I decided I wanted to read the Works of Archimedes (or at least start) before graduating. For some reason, it seemed that Euclid was prerequisite to Archimedes, and I wanted to read Euclid anyway, so I started Euclid and am about a third of the way through. I understand it pretty well (although it takes an hour to figure out one page sometimes). Then it hit me that I don't really have to finish all of Euclid before starting Archimedes. So, is Euclid prerequisite to Archimedes?

 

[mathwonk]

technically yes, but practically you probably already know enough euclidean geometry to red archimedes. try it.

 

[bguidry17]

Okay. And I assume that it is the same for Apollonius of Perga. By the way, thank you mathwonk for putting a lot of time and effort on this site. I am sure I'm not the first kid to say that your posts (especially your "who wants to be a mathematician" thread) are very helpful.

 

[brocks]

Be sure to look at this interactive version of Euclid's Elements:

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html

 

[bguidry17]

Will do.

 

[mathwonk]

thank you bguidry17. Here is another post I made on another site about reading classic texts.

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/28268/do-you-read-the-masters/51868#51868

 

[bguidry17]

Wow... Great post and a great thread. Those guys were truly geniuses. I don't hear much about Apollonius of Perga. Is his book a valuable read? I recently read that part of the Elements concerning tangent lines, and it confused me for a little while until I figured out what he was really saying. Now often when I see a circle I think of how the angle it makes with a tangent line is the "smallest possible angle", and that an infinitely small change in the angle makes the line cut the circle. I'm sure there are a lot more interesting things for me to learn, as I am just a precalculus student.