Apollonius Of Perga Facts For Kids
Apollonius of Perga was an ancient Greek mathematician known for his extensive work on conic sections, influencing both geometry and astronomy.
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Photos of Apollonius Of Perga
The conic sections, or two-dimensional figures formed by the intersection of a plane with a cone at different angles. The theory of these figures was developed extensively by the ancient Greek mathematicians, surviving especially in works such as those of Apollonius of Perga. The conic sections pervade modern mathematics.
The animated figure depicts the method of "application of areas" to express the mathematical relationship that characterizes a parabola. The upper left corner of the changing rectangle on the left side and the upper right corner on the right side is "any point on the section". The animation has it following the section. The orange square at the top is "the square on the distance from the point to the diameter; i.e., a square of the ordinate. In Apollonius, the orientation is horizontal rather than the vertical shown here. Here it is the square of the abscissa. Regardless of orientation, the equation is the same, names changed. The blue rectangle on the outside is the rectangle on the other coordinate and the distance p . {displaystyle p.} In algebra, x 2 = p y , {displaystyle x^{2}=py,} one form of the equation for a parabola. If the outer rectangle exceeds p y {displaystyle py} in area, the section must be a hyperbola; if it is less, an ellipse.
Visual form of the Pythagorean theorem as the ancient Greeks saw it. The area of the blue square is the sum of the areas of the other two squares.
Cartesian coordinate system, standard in analytic geometry
Pages from the 9th century Arabic translation of the Conics
1661 edition of Conica by Apollonius edited by Giuseppe Cocchini