Carroll’s book was a salvo in the “math wars” of the day, the subject of which was how best to teach geometry. Euclid was the standard textbook in private schools that taught mathematics, but many people found it wanting. To them, it was dry, formal, and obscure, lending itself to rote learning with no understanding. To improve the geometry curriculum, the anti-Euclid Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching was formed in 1871. In stage directions, Carroll skewers the association:
“Enter a phantasmic procession, grouped about a banner, on which is emblazoned in letters of gold the title ‘Association for the Improvement of Things in General.’ Foremost in the line marches Nero, carrying his unfinished ‘Scheme for lighting and warming Rome'; while among the crowd which follow him may be noticed—Guy Fawkes, President of the ‘Association for raising the position of Members of Parliament.’… Afterwards enter, on the other side, Sir Isaac Newton’s little dog ‘Diamond,’ carrying in his mouth a half-burnt roll of manuscript. He pointedly avoids the procession and the banner, and marches past alone, serene in the consciousness that he, single-pawed, conceived and carried out his great ‘Scheme for throwing fresh light on Mathematical Research,’ without the aid of any Association whatsoever.”
Calling someone “Nero” must have been the 1879 version of calling him or her “Hitler.” Carroll’s defense is entertaining, sarcastic, and curmudgeonly. I don’t think he was right, but it was interesting to get his perspective and think about how to define almost undefinable concepts such as line, direction, and angle.
Read the full post at Roots of Unity.
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