CH. IX.

6]
OTHER TECHNICAL TERMS
137
calIed reductiones ad absurdum. For it is the function of this method
to upset something admitted as clear
1
."
8. Analysis and Synthesis.
It will be seen from the note on Euc!. XIII. 1 that the MSS. of the
Elements contain definitions of A nalysis and Sytzthesis followed by
alternative proofs of XIII. I-5 after that method. The definitions and
alternative proofs are interpolated, but they have great historical
interest because of the possibility that they represent an ancient
method of dealing with these propositions, anterior to Eudid. The
propositions give properties of a line cut "in extreme and mean ratio,"
and theyare preliminary to the construction and comparison of the
five regular solids. N ow Pappus, in the section of his Collectz'ott dealing
with the latter subjecf'l, says that he will give the comparisons between
the five figtues, the pyramid, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and
icosahedron, which have equal surfaces, " not by means of the so-called
analyticalinquiry, by which sorne of the ancients worked out the proofs,
but by the synthetical method 3 .... " The conjecture of Bretschneider
that the matter interpolated in EucJ. XII!. is a survival of investiga-
tions due to Eudoxus has at first sight much to commend it
4
In the
first place, we are told by Proclus that Eudoxus "greatly added to
the number of the theorems which Plato originated regarding the
sec#on, and employed in them the method of analysis
lS
." It is obvious
that "the section" was sorne, particular section which by the time of
Plato had assumed great importance; and the one section of which
this can safely be said is that which was called the "golden section,"
namely, the divison of a straight line in extreme and mean ratio
which appears in Eucl. n. 11 and is therefore most probably Pytha-
gorean. Secondly, as Cantor points out
S
, Eudoxus was the founder
of the theory of proportions in the form in which we find it in Euclid
v., VI., and it was no doubt through meeting, in the course of his
investigations, with proportions not expressible by whole numbers
that he carne to realise the necessity for a new theory of proportions
which should be applicable to incommensurable as well as commen-
surable magnitudes. The" golden section" would f!Jrnish such a case.
And it is even mentioned by Proclus in this connexion. He is
explaining'l that it is onIy in arithmetic that all quantities bear
raHos (p1}7ot;; 'A"l0") to one another, while in geometry there
are l, irrational" ones (app1J7ot;;) as wel!. ' H Theorems about sections
like those in Euc1id's second Book are common to both [arithmetic
and geometry] except that in which the straight line is cut in extreme
and mean ratio
s
."
1 Produs, p. 255, 8--26.
2 Pappu, v. p .. po sqq. 3 ibid. pp. 410, 17-4I2, 2.
4 Bretschneider, p. 168. See however Heiberg's recent suggestion (ParalipolIlena zu
Euklid in Hermes, XXXVIII., 1903) that the author was Heron. The suggestion is based
on a with the remarks on analysis and synthesis quoted from Heron byan-Nairizi
(ed. Curtze, p. 89) at the beginning oC his commentary on Euc1. Book Il. On the whole,
this suggeston commends itself to me more than that of Bretschneider
6 Proclus, p. 67, 6. 6 Cantor, Gesch. d. Malh. I
s
' p. 141.
7 ProcIus, p. 60, 7-9, 8 ibid. p. 60, 16-19.
INTRODUCTION [CH. IX. 6
The definitions of Ana/ysis and Synthesis interpolated in Eucl.
XIII. are as follows (1 adopt the reading of B and ~ the only in-
telligible one, for the second).
"Analysis is an assumption of that which is sought as if it were
admitted < and the passage > through its consequences to something
admitted (to be) true.
" Synthesis is an assumption of that which is admitted < and the
passage > through its consequences to the finishing or attainment of
what is sought."
The language is by no means clear and has, at the best, to be
filled out.
Pappus has a fuller accountl :
" The so-called (i,vaAvp,evo,; (' Treasury of Analysis ') is, to put it
shortly, a spedal body of doctrine provided for the use m those who,
after finishing the ordinary Elements, are desirous of acquiring the
power of solvng problems which may be set them involving (the
construction of) lines, and it is useful for this alone. It is the work
of three men, Euclid the author of the Elements, Apollonius of Perga,
and Aristaeus the elder, and proceeds by way of analysis and synthesis.
" Analysis then takes that which is sought as if it were admitted
and passes from it through its successive consequences to something
which is admitted as the result of synthesis: for in analysis we assume
that which is sought as if it were (already) done (ryeryovr;), and we
nquire what it is from which this results, and again what is the ante-
cedent cause of the Iatter, q,nd so on, until ~ b y so retracing our steps
we come upon something already known or belonging to the class of
first principIes, and such -a method we call analysis as being soIution
backwards (dV(L7raALV AVG'tV).
" But in synthesis, reversing the process, we take as already done
that which was last arrived at in the analysis and, by arranging in
their natural order as consequences what were before antecedents,
and successively connecting them one with another, we arrive finally
at the construction of what was sought; and this we call synthesis.
" Now analysis is of two kinds, the one directed to searching for
the truth and caBed theoretieal, the other directed to finding what we
are told to find and called problematieal. (1) In t h ~ theoretieal kind
we assume what is sought as if it were existent and true, after which
we pass through ts successive conseq uences, as if they too were true
and established by virtue of Qur hypothesis, to something admitted :
then (a), if that something admitted is true, that which is sought will
also be true and the proof will correspond in the reverse order to the
at;lalysis, hut (b), if we come upon something admittedly false, that
which is sought will also be falseo (2) In the problematical kind we
assume that which is propounded as if it were known, after which we
pass through its successive consequences, taking them as true, up to
something admitted: if then (a) what is admitted is possible and
obtainable, that is, what mathematicians caH given, what was originally
proposed will also be possible, and the proof will again corresponde in
1 Pappus, VII. pp. 634-6.
CH. IX. 6] OTHER TECHNICAL TERMS 139
reverse order to the analysis, but if (b) we come upon something
admittedly impossible, the problem will also be impossible."
The ancient Analysis has been made the subject of careful studies
by several writers during the last half-century, the mos! complete
being those of HankeI, Duhamel and Zeuthen; others by Ofterdinger
and Cantor should also be mentioned l.
The method is as follows. 1t is required, let us say, to prove that
a certain proposition A is true. We assume as a hypothesis that A
is true and, starting from this \Ve find that, if A is true, a certain
other proposition B is true; if B is true, then C; and so on until
we arrive at a proposition K which is admittedly true. The object
of the method is to enable us to infer, in the reverse order, that, since
K is true, the proposition A originally assumed is true. Now
Aristotle had already made it clear that false hypotheses might lead
to a conclusion which is true. There is therefore a possibility of error
unless a certain precaution is taken. While, for example, B may be a
necessary consequence of A, it may happen that A is not a necessary
consequence of B. Thus, in order that the reverse inference from the
truth of K that A is true may be logically justified, it is necessary
that each step in the chain of inferences should be unconditionally
convertible. As a matter of fact, a very large number of theorems in
elementary geometry are unconditionally convertible, so that in practice
the difficulty in securing that the successive steps shall be convertible
is not so great as might be 5upposed. But care is always necessary.
For example, as Hankel says 2, a proposition may not be un con-
ditionally convertible in the form in which it is gene rally quoted.
Thus the proposition "The vertices of all triangles having a common
base and constant vertical angle lie on a circle" cannot be con verted
into the proposition that "All triangles with common base and vertices
lying on a circle have a constant vertical angle"; for this is only true
if the further conditions are satisfied (1) that the circle passes through
the extremities of the common base and (2) that only that part of the
circle is taken as the locus of the vertices which lies on 01te side of the
base. If these conditions are added, the proposition is unconditionalIy
. convertible. Or again, as Zeuthen remarks
3
, K may be obtained by
a series of inferences in which A or sorne other proposition in the
series is only apparently used; this would be the case e.g. when the
method of modern algebra is being employed and the expressions on
each side of the sign of equality have been inadvertently multiplied
by sorne composite magnitude which is in reality equal to zero.
Although the aboye extract from Pappus does not make it clear
that each step in the chain of argument must be convertible in tl).e
case taken, he almost implies this in the second part of the definition
of Analysis where, instead of speaking of the consequences B, C ...
1 Hankel, Zur GescMchte der Mathematik in A lterthum und Mittdalter, 1874, pp. 137-1 50;
Duhamel, Des mthodes dans les sciences de raisonnement, Part l., 3 ed., Paris, 1885, pp. 39-68 ;
Zeuthen, Geschichte der Mathelllatz"k im Altertum und Mittela/ter, 1896, pp. 92-104;
Ofterdinger, Betriige zur Geschichte der gn"echischen Mathematik, VIm, 1860; Cantor,
Geschichte" der Mathelllatik, 1
3
, pp. 220-2.
2 Hankel, p. 139. a Zeuthen, p. 103.
INTRODUCTION [CH. IX. 6
successively following from A, he suddenly changes the expression
and says that we inquire what it t"s (B)from which Afollows (A being
thus the con sequen ce of B, instead of the reverse), and then what
(viz. C) is the antecedent cause of B; and in practice the Greeks
secured what was wantep by l w ~ y s insisting'on the analysis being
confirmed ~ y subsequent sYlzthesis, that is, they laboriously worked
backwards the whole way from K to A, reversing the order of the
analysis, which process would undoubtedly bring to light any flaw
which had erept into the argument through the a.ccidental neglect of
-the necessary precautions.
certa

1 Proclus. p. '24'2, 16, 17.