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Interpreting Euclid's axioms in the spirit of this more modern approach, axioms 1–4 are consistent with either infinite or finite space (as in elliptic geometry), and all five axioms are consistent with a variety of topologies (e.g., a plane, a cylinder, or a torus for two-dimensional Euclidean geometry).
Euclid gave the definition of parallel lines in Book I, Definition 23 [2] just before the five postulates. [3] Euclidean geometry is the study of geometry that satisfies all of Euclid's axioms, including the parallel postulate. The postulate was long considered to be obvious or inevitable, but proofs were elusive.
Probably the oldest, and most famous, list of axioms are the 4 + 1 Euclid's postulates of plane geometry. The axioms are referred to as "4 + 1" because for nearly two millennia the fifth (parallel) postulate ("through a point outside a line there is exactly one parallel") was suspected of being derivable from the first four. Ultimately, the ...
Euclid's method consists in assuming a small set of intuitively appealing axioms, and deducing many other propositions from these. Although many of Euclid's results had been stated by earlier mathematicians, [7] Euclid was the first to show how these propositions could fit into a comprehensive deductive and logical system. [8]
Later editors have added Euclid's implicit axiomatic assumptions in their list of formal axioms. [32] For example, in the first construction of Book 1, Euclid used a premise that was neither postulated nor proved: that two circles with centers at the distance of their radius will intersect in two points.
Euclid (/ ˈ j uː k l ɪ d /; Ancient Greek: Εὐκλείδης; fl. 300 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. [2] Considered the "father of geometry", [3] he is chiefly known for the Elements treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely dominated the field until the early 19th century.
This is a list of axioms as that term is understood in mathematics. In epistemology , the word axiom is understood differently; see axiom and self-evidence . Individual axioms are almost always part of a larger axiomatic system .
Historically, Euclid's parallel postulate has turned out to be independent of the other axioms. Simply discarding it gives absolute geometry , while negating it yields hyperbolic geometry . Other consistent axiom sets can yield other geometries, such as projective , elliptic , spherical or affine geometry.