Euclid and his Modern Rivals Euclid and his Modern Rivals Euclid and his Modern Rivals is a mathematical book published in 1879 by the English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), better known under his literary pseudnym "Lewis Carroll". It considers the pedagogic merit of thirteen contemporary geometry textbooks, demonstrating how each in turn is either inferior to or functionally identical to Euclid's "Elements". In it Dodgson supports using Euclid's geometry textbook "The Elements" as the geometry textbook in schools against more modern geometry textbooks that were replacing it, advocated by the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, satirized in the book as the "Association
Pappus of Alexandria Pappus of Alexandria Pappus of Alexandria (; ; ) was one of the last great Greek mathematicians of Antiquity, known for his "Synagoge" (Συναγωγή) or "Collection" (), and for Pappus's hexagon theorem in projective geometry. Nothing is known of his life, other than, (from his own writings) that he had a son named Hermodorus, and was a teacher in Alexandria. "Collection", his best-known work, is a compendium of mathematics in eight volumes, the bulk of which survives. It covers a wide range of topics, including geometry, recreational mathematics, doubling the cube, polygons and polyhedra. Pappus was active in the 4th