• (Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth, metria = measure)

• developed to meet practical needs in surveying, construction, and astronomy

25,000 BC

Paleolithic PeriodCro-Magnon men made primitive geometricaldesigns

2000-500 BC

Egyptians and Babylonians

could compute pythagoreantheorem & area but used“trial & error”; not logicallydeduced; Egyptians usedgeometry for taxing land afterthe Nile flooded each year

800 BC

India

used geo. constructionsto solve linear/quadraticequations; est. pi to 5decimal places

600 BC

Thales of Miletus

Greeks:

brought the science ofgeometry from Egyptto Greece. Thales is frequently credited with developing 5 theorems of elementary geometry.

450 BC

Pythagorus

The 1st to logically deducegeometric facts from basicprinciples. Derived sum ofangles of triangles & thepythagorean theorem.

400 BC

Hippocrates

Wrote the 1st

“Elements ofGeometry”. HippocraticOath

300 BC

Plato

Emphasizedproofs & concisedefinitions. Platonicsolids

300 BC

Euclid

Father of Geometry -collected theoremsfrom predecessors &wrote 13-book treatise.

250 BC

Archimedes

The greatest of allGreek mathematicians-invented the screw, thepulley, & the lever.

200 BC

Appollonius

Famous forwork in conics.

150 BC

Hypsicles

described the 360Parts of a circle asdegrees.

140 BC

Hipparchus

Famous for workin trigonometry.

50 AD

Heron

Wrote“Metrica”(plane &3-D objects)

100 AD

Ptolemy

Geometry ofplanetary motion

120 AD

Chang Hong

Calculated pi to be3.1555

Hypatia

400 AD

1st woman tosignificantly contribute tomathematics.

Widmann

1489 AD

1st mathematicianTo use the notation+ and -.

1600 AD

Coordinate Geometry:

Rene Descartes: Made one of the greatest advances in geometry by connecting algebra and geometry. A myth is that he was watching a fly on the ceiling when he conceived of locating points on a plane with a pair of numbers. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that he stayed in bed everyday until 11:00 A.M. Fermat also discovered coordinate geometry, but it's Descartes' version that we use today.

1706 AD

William Jones was the first

to use the π symbol to denote the

periphery (circumference) of a

circle with a diameter of 1.

early 1800’s

Non-Euclidean Geometries

Since mathematicians couldn't prove the 5th postulate, they devised new geometries with "strange" notions of parallelism. (A geometry with no parallel lines?!?) Bolyai and Lobachevsky are credited with devising the first non-euclidean geometries.

late 1800’s – 1900

Differential geometry: combines geometry with the techniques of calculus to provide a method for studying geometry on curved surfaces.

Fractal geometry: geometric figures that model many natural structures like ferns or clouds. The invention of computers has greatly aided the study of fractals since many calculations are required.