Hippocrates (no relation to the famous physician) wrote his own Elements more than a century before Euclid. Only fragments survive but it apparently used axiomatic-based proofs similar to Euclid's and contains many of the same theorems. Hippocrates is said to have invented the reductio ad absurdem proof method. Hippocrates is most famous for his work on the three ancient geometric quandaries: his work on cube-doubling (the Delian Problem) laid the groundwork for successful efforts by Archytas and others; his circle quadrature was of course ultimately unsuccessful but he did prove ingenious theorems about "lunes" (certain circle fragments); and some claim Hippocrates was first to trisect the general angle. (Doubling the cube and angle trisection are often called "impossible," but they are impossible only when restricted to collapsing compass and unmarkable straightedge. There are ingenious solutions available with other tools.) Hippocrates also did work in algebra and rudimentary analysis.
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