The Origin of "Geometry"

Geometry (from Greek geo, "land"; metrein, "mesure"), a branch of mathematics which takes into account the proprieties of the space. On its more elemental form, geometry bear in mind metric problems, like the calculation of the area and the diameter of plane figures, the surface and volume of solid figures. Other fields of geometry are the analytics geometry, the descriptive geometry, topology, geometry of spaces with four or more dimensions, the fractal geometry and the non euclidean geometry.

The origin of the term "geometry" is a description of the work of the first geometers who were interested in problems with the size of the fields or with the construction of buildings. This kind of empiric geometry which emerged in the Ancient Egypt, was refined and systematised by the Greeks.

In the VI century B.C.,  Thales of Miletus started the Greek geometry as a mathematical discipline, the first one.

THALES OF MILETUS

In the book "The elements" of Euclid, from 350 B.C. is the written agreement of geometry. For Euclid and for lots of other generations of mathematicians, the geometry was the study of the regular forms which can be observed in the world around them. Nowadays, this study is called Euclidean Geometry or Metric Geometry.

EUCLID

Archimedes and Apollonius were important too in geometry in the ancient world. The first one analysed on a exhaustive way the conic sections, apart from his famous calculation of figures volume.

APOLLONIUS

Apollonius worked in the resolution of tangencias between circles, so as in the curves of conic figures and other types.

ARCHIMEDES