Virtually nothing is known about the personal life of Euclid. Where he was born is a mystery. Some stories describe Euclid as having attended Plato's Academy in Athens, Greece. If that is true, he probably attended during the generation after Plato's death, which occurred around 340 b.c. This circumstance, and the record that Euclid set up a school of mathematics in Alexandria around 300 b.c., places a probable date for the birth of Euclid at around 325 b.c. Euclid's disciple, Apollonius of Perga, is reported to have been the director of Euclid's Alexandrian school around 250 b.c. so a probable date for Euclid's death lies somewhere between 300 and 250 b.c.

Euclid studied and analyzed the entire body of mathematical knowledge that had accumulated in the ancient world up to his time and compiled a book called The Elements. The work is divided into thirteen smaller books on the...