Math Mutation Classics: Exploring Interesting, Fun and Weird Corners of Mathematics

© Erik Seligman 2016

Erik SeligmanMath Mutation Classics10.1007/978-1-4842-1892-1_3

3. Getting Geometric

Erik Seligman¹ 

(1)

Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

 

Ever since Euclid, generations of learners have been astonished by the level of insight we can gain into the basic shapes of the world around us, starting with a few observations and basic principles. Isn’t it amazing that you can draw any triangle you want on a flat piece of paper, not telling me anything else about it, and yet I will know that the sum of its angles is precisely 180 degrees? You probably learned that fact in school, but unless you were very lucky or had an especially talented teacher, your textbook sucked all the joy out of it. Here we focus on a small set of geometry-related topics that ...