Euclid

Definitions, Postulates, Common Notions and Propositions 1-3 from Book 1 by Euclid took me back to freshman year in high school in geometry class. So, understanding how points, lines, triangles, and circles pushed me through this read. Having the interest in mathematics helped me get through this read. When reading, I tried to think about why the school is having us read this book about lines and circles when a line that Euclid stated about how “Things which are equal to the same things are also equal to one another.” (page 71). Knowing that Euclid was talking about geometry, this can be analyzed in a greater context than just math. In today’s society, because of our president, racism has become very popular and has been brought to a nationwide problem. When reading this heavy line, I realize how this could be related to humans and the racism problem we are dealing with today. When Euclid explained how if something is equal to other thing then they are also equal to each other which I believe people need to start realizing. The people that live on this planet are all humans. People are all the same and created the same way therefore, there should not be any hate towards one another. Yes, maybe past events created this hatred towards each other but we now live in a society that should not have problems with either because we all have equal rights. Which makes us all equal to each other.

Another statement made by Euclid really stood out to me in a non-mathematical way was when he stated, “The whole is greater than the part” (page 71). This stood out to be because it reminded me about how in sports people say how one must go through a rough path as we call the process of “sweat, blood and tears” in order to get to the end goal. Once the goal is reached you understand that the process was nothing but only a part of the goal and when you make it, the feeling will be greater than all the suffering. So reading this I found statements that I could relate to life today which was tough but I was able to stretch the meaning of the statements.