Archimedes Quotes
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
This quotation illustrates one of the major reasons politicians and laymen have difficulty making educational policy on mathematics education. It is the laws that govern mathematics and their structure that is most critical, not the ability to calculate and measure although the latter are important and useful by products.
The study of Geometry was considered fundamental and a prerequisite to the study of all science and philosophy.
Archimedes of Syracuse (/ˌɑːrkɪˈmiːdiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἀρχιμήδης; Doric Greek: [ar.kʰi.mɛː.dɛ̂ːs]; c. 287 – c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Considered to be the greatest mathematician of antiquity, and one of the greatest scientists of all time, Archimedes anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying the concept of the infinitely small and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems, including: the area of a circle; the surface area and volume of a sphere; area of an ellipse; the area under a parabola; the volume of a segment of a paraboloid of revolution; the volume of a segment of a hyperboloid of revolution; and the area of a spiral.
