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From which ancient civilization did geometry originate and what does the word “geometry” mean in their language?

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User Tiasia
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Geometry, from Greek (Geometria) = Measuring of the earth.

The word is etymologically more than justified, since geometry began from the need to measure the fields.

When, for example, the fields in Ancient Egypt were inundated by the annual overflowing of the Nile, people needed a way to ‘measure the earth’ so that everybody could find his own parcel after the recession of the waters.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Euclid, the Father of Geometry as we know it, lived in Egypt.

It is there where Ptolemy the Ist., ‘Soter’, first (greek) king of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great, upon reading Euclid’s work ‘Elements’, allegedly asked Euclid if he could show him an easier way to the comprehension of Geometry.

He got the famous answer by Euclid, = There doesn’t exist a royal trail to geometry.

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User Vstelmakh
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