Download or read book Redefining Geometrical Exactness written by H. J. M. Bos and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until the 17th century, rigor and exactness in mathematics meant geometry and Euclid. Other means of confirming results, such as computation, were considered inferior to the traditional constructions using ruler and compass. In 1637 Descartes introduced what is now called analytical geometry, which made algebraic methods equal to geometry in the methods of mathematics. In this detailed study, Bos explores the origins of what is meant by "rigor" in mathematics, and how that definition evolved to include the use of new geometric and algebraic methods.