Elements of geometry (Greek: σ τ ο ι τ ε? α) is also called "original". It is a mathematical work written by Euclid, an ancient Greek mathematician. It is the foundation of European mathematics, summarizes five postulates of plane geometry, and is widely regarded as the most successful textbook in history. Euclid also wrote some works about perspective, conic curve, spherical geometry and number theory.

Euclid used the axiomatic method. This method later became a model of establishing any knowledge system, and in almost two thousand years, it was regarded as a model of rigorous thinking that must be followed. This book is the basis of Euclid's geometry and the most widely circulated book in the west after the Bible.

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Euclid's original work was written about 300 BC, and it has long been lost. The book is divided into 13 volumes. The book contains five axioms, five common concepts, 23 definitions and 48 propositions. In each volume, Euclid adopts a completely different narrative method from the predecessors, that is, first put forward axioms, postulates and definitions, and then prove them from simple to complex. This makes the discussion of the whole book more compact and vivid.

He also made his own original arrangement in the content arrangement of the whole book. From shallow to deep, from simple to complex, this paper discusses straight edge, circle, proportion theory, similarity, number, solid geometry and exhaustive method. The discussion on exhaustive method has become the source of modern calculus thought.

According to the system of Euclidean geometry, all theorems are derived from some basic propositions that are true without proof, that is, axioms. In this deductive reasoning, every proof of a theorem must be based on an axiom or theorem that has been proved before, and finally a conclusion is drawn. It has had a far-reaching impact on later generations. It indicates that geometry has become a discipline with a relatively strict theoretical system and scientific methods.

For more than two thousand years, The Elements of Geometry has been the main teaching material for studying mathematics and geometry. Many great scholars, such as Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes and Newton. , studied the elements of geometry, and absorbed rich nutrition from it, thus making many great achievements.

1582, Italian Catholic priest Matteo Ricci went to China to preach, bringing with him 15 original volume. 1600, Xu Guangqi (1562- 1633), a mathematician of the Ming dynasty, got to know Matteo Ricci and kept in touch with him ever since. 1607, they translated the first six volumes of this book into Chinese and renamed it Geometry Elements. The last nine volumes were translated by China mathematician Li (181-1882) and English (1857).

Baidu Encyclopedia-Geometry Original