Mathematician:Aristaeus the Elder

Mathematician

Differentiated by Pappus of Alexandria from another later Aristaeus whose existence is no longer recorded.

Did considerable work on conic sections, but this was rendered obsolete by subsequent work by Apollonius.

Proved that "the same circle circumscribes both the pentagon of the dodecahedron and the triangle of the icosahedron inscribed in the same sphere."

Nationality

Greek

History

• Born: about 370 BCE in Greece
• Died: about 300 BCE

Theorems

• Circle Circumscribing Pentagon of Dodecahedron and Triangle of Icosahedron in Same Sphere

Publications

• Five Books concerning Solid Loci, referred by Pappus. Probably also the same book as that referred to by a later writer as Five Books concerning Conic Sections
• Concerning the Comparison of Five Regular Solids

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Aristaeus the Elder": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1926: Sir Thomas L. Heath: Euclid: The Thirteen Books of The Elements: Volume 1 (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Introduction: Chapter $\text{II}$. Euclid's Other Works