Euclid

I'm currently reading 'Fermats Last Theorem' by Simon Singh and it is actually brilliant. There are parts that I love so much I simply have to share them! One of my favourite little stories from the book is this: Euclid was the first head of the mathematical department of Alexandria (an ancient city with the biggest library in the world). A student asked Euclid what the use was of the piece of mathematics that he was learning just like so many other people that have been in my classes over the years. However rather than being dumbfounded like so many of my teachers, Euclid turned to his slave and said 'give the boy a coin if he wishes to profit from all that he learns' and the student was expelled.

I suppose that just goes to show how times have changed. Back then they did maths just for the purity of numbers, the joy of a puzzle and satisfaction of completeness and now we do it in the name of science for development or because we are forced to through the education system - I wonder what Euclid would say?

The last book I read was a little less challenging but hey, you've got to start somewhere! I talk about it in this post.