The elements by Euclid   03/13/16
Would you believe it if I told you that one of the most important books ever made was in fact a Geometry textbook? How about if I told you that the same textbook had a shelf life of nearly two and a half thousand years and was only replaced very recently? And that this same textbook is also one of the foundations for the entirety of modern western thought? Well, all of the postulations are in fact complete truth. The elements is a book containing 13 volumes of treatises (all addressing different facets of mathematics). The elements begin with a simple set of postulates or innate ideas. Postulate 1: A straight line segment can be drawn between any two points. Postulate 2: Any straight line segment can be extended into an infinitely straight line. Postulate 3: Given a line segment, a circle can be drawn with that line segment as a radius.Postulate 4: All right angles are congruent. Postulate 5: If two lines are drawn which intersect a third in such a way that the sum of the inner angles on one side is less than two right angles, then the two lines inevitably must intersect each other on that side if extended far enough. This postulate is equivalent to what is known as the parallel postulate. (if it sounds strange, it’s because it has been proven to be only true in a flat space, violating this postulate gives rise to non-euclidean geometry). The elements has been a vast influence on all of western thought. The Dutch-Jewish Philosopher Spinoza created an entire system of ethics using a euclidean style of organization. Abraham Lincoln even studied the elements to assist him in his pursuit of understanding a rigorous proof for law