Euclid and His Modern Rivals

Euclid and His Modern Rivals is a deeply convincing testament to the Greek mathematician’s teachings of elementary geometry. Published in 1879, it is humorously constructed and written by Charles Dodgson (better known outside the mathematical world as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland) in the form of an intentionally unscientific dramatic comedy. Dodgson, mathematical lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, sets out to provide evidentiary support for the claim that The Manual of Euclid is essentially the defining and exclusive textbook to be used for teaching elementary geometry. Euclid’s sequence and numbering of propositions and his treatment of parallels, states Dodgson, make convincing arguments that the Greek scholar’s text stands alone in the field of mathematics. The author pointedly recognises the abundance of significant work in the field, but maintains that none of the subsequent manuals can effectively serve as substitutes to Euclid’s early teachings of elementary geometry.