Whereas basic plane geometry is concerned with points and lines and their interactions, most of the early geometry of the Babylonians, Arabs, and Greeks was spherical geometry--the study of the Earth, idealized as a sphere. This early science was astronomy and the need to measure time accurately by the sun.From a web page about Spherical Geometry via a tip from Dennis. It seems the ancients knew a lot more than we generally give them credit for.
Great minds think alike ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs chance would have it, I just did a piece about Pythagoras theorem on a sphere :-)
See http://www.savory.de/blog_apr_09.htm#20090420