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From Pappus to today: The history of a proof

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Michael A. B. Deakin
Michael A. B. Deakin*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia
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Extract

“Perhaps we do even worse, suppressing the creative instincts of our children at the same time as researchers try to imitate them with machines. A computer is said to have applied a problem solving programme to the proposition that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal. Instead of the Euclidean proof which proves two right-angled-triangles [on the left below] to be congruent, the computer produced a more elegant proof from the simpler construction (sic) [on the right below]. The conventional working must have been taught to millions of children: we may reasonably ask why none of them, apparently, have discovered this simple, new proof for themselves.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 74 , Issue 467 , March 1990 , pp. 6 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1990

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