The Origin of Mathematics 1: The Testimony of Eudemus

Abstract

Our most important source about the history of Greek mathemat-ics before Euclid originates from Eudemus of Rhodes, a student of Aristotle, who lived from about 350 to 300 B.C.E. He wrote a book on the history of mathematics, which has, however, been lost except for a few passages quoted by other authors. The following one was preserved in Proclus's Commentary on Euclid. Proclus (410-485 C.E.) is writing about the origin and development of geometry, and the Eudemus passage starts with the second paragraph: Limiting our investigation to the origin of the arts and sciences in the present age, we say, as have most writers of history, that geometry was first discovered among the Egyptians and origi-nated in the remeasuring of their lands. This was necessary for them because the Nile overflows and obliterates the boundary lines between their properties. It is not surprising that the dis-11