Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics Chapter Summary & Analysis - Heron's Formula for Triangular Area Summary

Heron's Formula for Triangular Area Summary and Analysis

Archimedes' accomplishments are so pronounced that for a long time nobody approaches the kind of advances he makes in mathematics. Alexandria continues to be a center of thinking and learning, and the chief librarian at the end of the third century BC is a mathematician named Eratosthanes who is best known for having developed a simple way to find prime numbers and for determining the circumference of the Earth. Another Alexandrian mathematician is Apollonius, who develops a work on conics which remains a classic.

Heron is another mathematician at Alexandria. Little is known about the man, but much of his work survives. Heron's work deals largely with practical applications, but he also devises a way to determine the area of a triangle that Dunham chooses as the great theorem of the chapter.

Heron's find the area of a triangle when only the length of the sides are known. Dunham presents...
(read more)