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2025-08-22 16:09:42 UTC
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Skewray Research (ZF¬C) on Nostr: nprofile1q…ze5g0 Years ago, I encountered a book on Euclidean geometry, written by ...

Years ago, I encountered a book on Euclidean geometry, written by a pair of Russian (well, Slavic, nowadays) mathematicians. The book set out to show that almost all of Euclidean geometry in The Elements could be proven with only a straight edge. At the end, they proved, using a straight edge, that (A) it is impossible to find the center of a circle, and (B) it is possible to find the center of a circle if there exists another circle somewhere. They posited that (A) was an example of Goedel's Incompleteness.

I found the book in the math library at Weizmann Institute 45 years ago. Might still be there.