Mathematician:Menaechmus

Mathematician
Menaechmus (Greek: Μέναιχμος) was a Greek mathematician and geometer.

Known for his friendship with.

Apparently discovered conic sections, and used them to provide a solution to the problem of Doubling the Cube using the parabola and hyperbola.

Brother of.

His work on conic sections is known primarily from an epigram by.

mentions that Menaechmus was taught by.

Plutarch suggests that disapproved of Menaechmus' solution for Doubling the Cube by using of mechanical devices, which is puzzling -- the proof currently known appears to be purely algebraic.

Some sources, perhaps inspired by Joannes Stobaeus, suggest that Menaechmus was at one point a teacher of Alexander the Great, but, while possible, this is uncertain.

Nationality
Greek

History

 * Born: about 380 BCE in Alopeconnesus, Thracian Chersonese
 * Died: about 320 BCE, possibly in Cyzicus

Theorems

 * Doubling the Cube using Parabola
 * Doubling the Cube using Hyperbola

Notable Quotes

 * There is no royal road to Geometry.
 * -- To Alexander the Great
 * -- Quoted in : They Say: What Say They? : Let Them Say

The correct attribution of this quote is dubious. attributes it to, in response to Ptolemy I Soter.

Joannes Stobaeus ($5$th century) reports Menaechmus as saying to Alexander the Great:
 * O King, for traveling over the country, there are royal road and roads for common citizens, but in geometry there is one road for all.
 * -- Quoted in