Euclid’s Elements with Exercises

This work was created in the hope that it will encourage both students and teachers to discover the beauty of thought that Euclid’s Elements embodies. Although it could be used by anyone, it and the companion instructor’s copy (also available on Amazon) were assembled and written with small schools or homeschooling groups in mind. For those without a strong mathematics background, or for those studying Euclid on their own, the author recommends purchasing an instructor’s copy, which contains the exact material in the student copy, but with additional notes for teachers, comments on the books, and solutions to selected exercises.

The work consists of the first six books of the Elements, with the addition of ten sets of exercises (additional proofs) to reinforce concepts. The material has been arranged in such a way as to enable its completion in a school year while assuring that all the basic propositions covered in a standard plane geometry class are included. Some propositions have been omitted, but these have been chosen so that the flow of logic is never interrupted, and all omitted propositions are in Appendix A at the back of the book. There is also an appendix explaining the basics of formal reasoning, including an explanation of the converse and contrapositive of a statement and the concept of an indirect proof.

This book was not designed for the purist. Although it is pure Euclid and contains all of Books I - VI, it may offend the sensibilities of some who love Euclid (as the assembler/author does) to fail to place each proposition in its proper place in the main body of the text. For anyone not under a time constraint, or anyone moving quickly through the text, the author strongly recommends the inclusion of Book II in the main flow of the course.