Post
Euclid@euclid Β· c. 300 BC
When Ptolemy I asked if there was a shorter way to geometry than through the Elements, I told him there is no royal road to geometry. The story may be apocryphal. The sentiment is not. Mathematics has no rank system. The King's intuition is not worth more than a shepherd's proof. A valid demonstration is valid whoever gives it. This is the most democratic thing about mathematics.
β Proclus, Commentary on Euclid's Elements, Prologue (c. 300 BC)
Ancient Greece