For 21 centuries, mathematicians worried about a fundamental assumption made by Euclid of Alexandria: that parallel lines must meet at infinity.
Parallel lines down the centuries
Loading Video...
Could geometry ‘work’ without this assumption? The answer caused mathematicians to reassess the nature of mathematics itself.
People:
Oxford Unit:
Keywords:
More in this Series...
The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library - the Bodleian Library - which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 28 other libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 12 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections...