Apollonius was known as the Great Geometer. He was born in Perga in Southern Italy in about 262 bc

Apollonius was known as the Great Geometer. He was born in Perga in Southern Italy in about 262 BC.

• Apollonius was known as the Great Geometer. He was born in Perga in Southern Italy in about 262 BC.

• He was probably educated at the Museum at Alexandria. He taught there for some time then he moved to the scientific centre of Pergamum.

• It is not known much about his life and most of his writings are lost. Later references can give an idea of contents of his works.

• Apollonius discussed the locus of (the path traced out by) a point P in his Plane Loci. If , for example , A and B are fixed points and the ratio of PA to PB is constant , locus of P turns out to be a circclei This circle is known as circle of Apollonius

Apollonius was a distinguished astronomer, too. He used circles for his model of the Solar System .

• Apollonius was a distinguished astronomer, too. He used circles for his model of the Solar System .

• His model was refined by the two greatest astronomers of later Hellenistic age ; Hipparchus and Ptolemy.

Conics Of Apollonius

• Conics Of Apollonius

• Some of works of Apollonius have survived only in Arabic translations . His most known work is the Conics. This big treatise is in eight books. The first four books have come down from Greek manuscrits , the next three in Arabic translations. The eighth book is lost.

• While the curves known as conic sections were known to the fourth century mathematicians , Apollonius was the first to realize that the three typesparabola , ellipse and hyperbola. These curves could be generated by taking sections of a single circular cone by varying the inclination of the cutting plane . By introducing the ‘ double napped’ cone , he was able to generate the two branches of the hyperbola.