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Wanted: Recommendations for Euclid Commentary or Annotated Euclid

Does anyone (Drew?) know of a good commentary on Euclid, or a good annotated Euclid. This is for my dh, who is a math major so not "scared" or ignorant, who wants to start going through Euclid this summer with our 11 year old son, who is fully capable of a good stretch in math.

My dh sees some ancient commentaries or completely modern (algebraic) commentaries, but what he is looking for is a guide to the actual propositions.

He found one that is about 100 years old that seems pretty good...by Thomas Heath, which is available in Dover. It seems to have good notes.

Any thoughts on this or recommendations?

Thanks.

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I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations...

but I would love a link to the Heath book and any other resources your dh turns up!

TIA,
Drew

***
"Hardly any lawful price would seem to me too high for what I have gained by being
made to learn Latin and Greek. —C. S. Lewis
***

Drew Campbell – Mon, 2006 – 06 – 05 18:12
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In the Euclidean Tradtion...

I suppose that I might be preaching to the choir but here is an article on “In defense of Euclidean Geometry” written by Barry Simon, chair of the math department at Cal Tech. The article is at Mark Solomonvich’s website:

http://www.solomonovich.com/geometry/whystudy.html

That being said, Mark Solomonvich, PhD in mathematical physics, has resurrected the proofs of Euclid in a slightly updated form. I think he has added some proofs by Archimedes in his book. ( I think that has to do with foundations of modern Calculus. I’m not the math whiz in my house) We are awaiting the arrival of his book at our house within the next few days. Solomonovich is a Russian mathematican who taught his own child out of this book and “believes in the classical education tradition.”

I don’t know how purist you want to be about teaching Euclidean geometry but if nothing else, the Solomonivich text might give insight into how to teach it even if you didn’t actually follow his text. There are sample pages up on his website. I am actively trying to piece together what math education was like across the ages. I think at some points Apollonius and Archimedes were taught, but I don't know to what extent. The Heath edition of the Elements provides a lengthy discussion of which books of Euclid were known and when. It is "the" edition of Euclid to buy. Heath carefully catalogues the comments that every significant mathematician has had to say about the definitions and propositions. You don't just get Euclid, you get quite a bit of math history as well. Mostly the study of Euclid was confined to the first book which only culminates in the Pythagoream theorem. It took a very long time for all 13 books to become translated and known to the West.

MyrtleHocklemeier – Tue, 2006 – 06 – 13 22:19
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Thank you, Myrtle! I have to laugh...

because while waiting for replies, I got busy and found *exactly* what you recommended and had just returned from the mailbox, sending in our book order to Dr. Solomonvich, when I got your response.

My husband is going to be teaching the Euclid/math portion from here on, except that I am finishing up the Singapore portion. He is convinced that it is possible to get a math degree these days and never thing a math thought the whole time--and he doesn't want that for our son. He himself is a math major, but a BA, not a BS, so he has a glimmer at least of what he means here.

Thank you for the additional recommendation on Heath. I'll pass this along.

And I have enjoyed your blog. I *adored* the "whatever works" post. Not that the words haven't ever escaped my lips...

Patty in WA – Tue, 2006 – 06 – 20 14:22
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how's the book?

Patty (and anyone else) -

Have you had a chance to go through the book? What are your thoughts? I've spent time at the website and the book does look really interesting. Would it work to use parts of it as a supplement to another geometry book?

Anne Marie, who is already scheduled to teach a co-op class from another geometry book

Anne Marie in NM – Thu, 2006 – 08 – 10 11:23
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Geometry

My dh is in charge on this one. However, he is very impressed with Solomonovich and has been getting ready to take our son into geometry starting this fall.

I can't answer more, but will see what he thinks.

Patty in WA – Sat, 2006 – 08 – 26 04:43
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Harold R. Jacobs

If you haven't found anything better, the text, "Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding" by the above-named provides an outstanding introduction to Euclidean Geometry. It is a wonderful book with a very solid basis in classical geometry. If you have found something else, I'd love to hear about it.

Regards,

Dan Taverne, Faculty
New Albion Academy of the Liberal Arts
"A Christian academic community"
www.newalbionacademy.org

425-531-1528

dtaverne – Fri, 2006 – 12 – 29 11:14
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