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Born: About 365 BC in Alexandria, Egypt Died: About 300 BC Short Biography Euclid is one of the world's most famous mathematicians, yet very little is known of his life, except that he taught at Ptolemy’s university at Alexandria, Egypt. Euclid's Elements, a work on elementary geometry and other topics, exceeded other works of its time, which are now known only by indirect reference. The Elements begins with definitions, postulates, and axioms, including the famous fifth, …

…of the people before him, like Exodus, Thales, Hippocrates, and Pythagoras. It is accepted that some of the proofs are his own and that the excellent arrangement is his. Over a thousand editions of the work have been published since the first printed version of 1482. Euclid's other works include Data, On Divisions of Figures, Phaenomena, Optics, Surface Loci, Porisms, Conics, Book of Fallacies, and Elements of Music. Only the first four of these have survived.