Further Mathematics Support Programme
Let Maths take you Further… Euclidian Algebra 1 Let Maths take you Further…
Euclidian Algebra & Calculation The Ancient Greeks were skilled mathematicians who devised interesting number and algebra problems which were to be solved using only a pencil, a straight edge and a pair of compasses. Numerical values were represented by straight lines of a given length.
If a certain line has a value of ‘1’ _____ then a line twice its length is ‘2’ __________ Lines of random (but fixed) length are used to represent unknown quantities e.g. a is _______ b is _____________ How would you obtain: a+b? b-a?
How does the value x relate to the values a and b in this diagram?
Choose a random length for a and a different random length for b. Using similar triangles, as with the previous slide, can you construct a representative length for: a2 a÷b a2÷b What other combinations of operations is it possible to construct? Are there any which it is not possible to construct?