Quoted By:
Geometry is said by many to have been invented
among the Egyptians^ its origin being due to the
measurement of plots oTland. This was necessary there
because of the rising of the Nile, which obliterated the
boundaries appertaining to separate owners. Nor is it
marvellous that the discovery of this and the other
sciences should have arisen from such an occasion, since
everything which moves in the sense of development
will advance from the imperfect to the perfect. From
sense-perception to reasoning, and from reasoning to
understanding, is a natural transition. Just as among
the Phoenicians, through commerce and exchange, an
accurate knowledge of numbers was originated, so also
among the Egyptians geometry was invented for the
reason above stated.
" Thales first went to Egypt and thence introduced
this study into GreeceA'
But it is clear that the geometry of the Egyptians was
almost entirely practical and did not go beyond the
requirements of the land-surveyor, farmer or merchant
They did indeed know, as far back as 2000 B.C., that in a
triangle which has its sides proportional to 3, 4, 5 the
angle contained by the two smaller sides is a right angle,
and they used such a triangle as a practical means of
drawing right angles. They had formulae, more or less
inaccurate, for certain measurements, e.g. for the areas of
certain triangles, parallel-trapezia, and circles.
