Trisecting an angle Archimedes

1
Trisecting an angleArchimedes method

• By Jessica Scott
• 11/29/99

2
Archimedes of Syracuse

• Born in Syracuse, Sicily in 287 B.C.
• Son of Phidias, an astronomer
• Invented many war machines
• Killed in 212 B.C. in the Second Punic War by a a
  Roman soldier

3
Three famous construction problems

• Can these problems be solved with only the tools
  of a straightedge and compass?
• Double a cube
• Square a circle
• Trisect an angle
• These questions lasted until the early 19th
  century when the tasks were shown impossible