{
  "aliases": null,
  "backlinks": null,
  "body": "\n## Description\n\nThe *Elements* is a mathematical treatise in thirteen books, written in Greek by Euclid of Alexandria around 300 BC.\nBooks I to VI treat plane geometry, and Books VII to IX treat the arithmetic of whole numbers.\nBook X treats incommensurable magnitudes, and Books XI to XIII treat solid geometry.\nBook I starts from definitions, five postulates and a list of common notions, and derives every proposition from these and from earlier propositions.\nThe fifth postulate of Book I is the [[parallel postulate|2PC3XY0PYZ]].\nBook I ends with the [[Pythagorean theorem|0VP3A1290K]] and its converse.\nBook VII contains the [[Euclidean algorithm|0TRNT4X7J0]], Book IX contains [[Euclid's theorem|0292EPPPT0]] that there are infinitely many primes, and Book XIII constructs the five [[Platonic solids|017E5PRS1Q]].\n\n## Remarks\n\nThe book is the model of the axiomatic method: a short list of first principles and a chain of proofs.\nIts axioms are not complete by modern standards; for example, the proof of its first proposition assumes that two circles meet without an axiom that says so.\nModern axiom systems such as [[Hilbert's axioms|KM1FB8XZ2R]] fill these gaps.\n\n## Explanations\n\n### L1 human\n\nThe *Elements* is the oldest mathematics textbook that is still read.\nIt starts from a few simple rules, such as \"a straight line can be drawn between any two points\", and proves hundreds of facts about figures and numbers from them.\nFor two thousand years, students learned geometry and the idea of a proof from it.\n",
  "commit": "ff8a40749dc16545e3d2fc637f6b0196e81d0bfa",
  "front": {
    "kind": "object",
    "msc": [
      "01A20",
      "51M04",
      "51-03"
    ],
    "name": "Euclid's Elements",
    "same_as": {
      "wikidata": "Q172891",
      "wikipedia": "Euclid's Elements"
    },
    "sources": [
      {
        "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid%27s_Elements"
      }
    ],
    "tag": "83WHDAV68J",
    "uses": [
      "0VP3A1290K",
      "0TRNT4X7J0",
      "0292EPPPT0",
      "017E5PRS1Q"
    ]
  },
  "kind": "object",
  "link": "https://tamnd.github.io/math2/node/83WHDAV68J/",
  "links": [
    {
      "field": "uses",
      "target": "0VP3A1290K"
    },
    {
      "field": "uses",
      "target": "0TRNT4X7J0"
    },
    {
      "field": "uses",
      "target": "0292EPPPT0"
    },
    {
      "field": "uses",
      "target": "017E5PRS1Q"
    }
  ],
  "markdown": "https://tamnd.github.io/math2/node/83WHDAV68J.md",
  "msc": [
    "01A20",
    "51M04",
    "51-03"
  ],
  "name": "Euclid's Elements",
  "prov": null,
  "role": "",
  "source": "https://github.com/tamnd/math2/blob/main/nodes/83W/83WHDAV68J.md",
  "status": null,
  "tag": "83WHDAV68J",
  "uri": "m2://83WHDAV68J",
  "url": "https://tamnd.github.io/math2/wiki/euclids-elements/",
  "writing": {
    "tag": "83WHDAV68J",
    "kind": "object",
    "level": "W0",
    "next": [
      {
        "what": "a source with a locator",
        "have": 0,
        "want": 1
      }
    ]
  }
}
