Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Wisdom

They found, that similar triangles are to each other in the duplicate…

Quote byColin MacLaurin · 1698–1746

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Introduction.

English (original)

They found, that similar triangles are to each other in the duplicate ratio of their homologous sides; and, by resolving similar polygons into similar triangles, the same proposition was extended to these polygons also. But when they came to compare curvilineal figures, that cannot be resolved into rectilineal parts, this method failed.

— Colin MacLaurin

More from Colin MacLaurin