no historical likeness exists
c. 10 – 70Alexandria, Egypt
Heron of Alexandria
Practical geometry for people who need to measure things.
A short story
An Egyptian-born Greek mathematician who worked at the great library at Alexandria nearly two thousand years ago. He wrote Metrica, a practical book of geometry for builders, surveyors, and shopkeepers: how to find the area of a triangle from just its three side lengths, how to compute the volume of a barrel, how to measure things you couldn't otherwise reach. He also invented small machines: a coin-operated vending device, an automatic door, a steam-driven toy.
In their own words
The area of a triangle is half the product of its base and its height, and you can also find it from just the three sides.
Paraphrased: from Heron's Metrica, 1st century CE.
The lab their idea turned into
Measure Lab
Around, inside, inside-and-deep. Three ways to measure a shape.
Open Measure Lab →