Kim Farmer, age 13, of Bennington, Vt. for her question:
JUST WHAT IS GEOMETRY?
Geometry is one of the important branches of mathematics. The study of geometry consists of finding many important facts about points, lines and planes.
Geometry is one of the important branches of mathematics. The study of geometry consists of finding many importants facts about points, lines and planes.
Geometry also includes finding the lengths, areas and volumes of geometric figures, or figures of various shapes.
The name "geometry" comes from Greek words that mean "earth" and "to measure." Originally geometry dealt with the measurement of land. The ancient Egyptians used geometry to determine the size of their fields and to find the boundaries of their farms after the yearly floods of the Nile River washed away or covered old landmarks. Surveying, a branch of geometry, became. well developed thousands of years ago.
In geometry your must start by assuming a group of facts to be true. You are told clearly what certain words are going to mean. Then you can prove the truth of hundreds of further statements. You discover new ideas and show old ideas to be true by the careful use of rules of logic.
Geometry started as a practical study and still has thousands of everyday uses. It is important as a school subject because it shows students how to develop ideas by local reasoning, rather than by observation, description and measurement.
Geometry is practical and already arranged in logical order. It is simple and easy to picture. We can reason our way ahead, step by step.
We use geometry whenever we ask questions about the size, shape, volume or position of anything. Highway builders need geometry to plan roads. Engineers and architects use geometric drawing in building plans and bridge designs.
Every navigator of a sailboat, airplane or spacecraft must know geometry because the principles of navigation are based on this study.
In daily life we find hundreds of uses for geometry.
We cant, of course, teach you geometry with a description in . this limited space. But we hope these remarks will show you that geometry can be an easy to learn adventure.
Plane geometry deals with points, lines, polygons and circles on a flat surface. Solid geometry includes the study of points, lines and planes in space while analytic geometry enables us to describe many kinds of lines, curves and surfaces by means of mathematical equations.
The use of geometry dates back before the dawn of history. Excavations of ancient cities show that land and buildings were carefully laid out. Egyptian architects and engineers designed and built huge temples and pyramids. Babylonian astronomers measured circles and made careful observations of the planets and stars.
We still measure angles the way the Babylonians did thousands of years ago when we divide a full circle into 360 degrees, a degree into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds.
Historians believe that Egyptian and Babylonian geometry dealt only with practical problems. It was probably not until about 600 B.C. that Greek mathematicians started to develop the reasoning and logic needed to prove the truth of mathematical statements.