Written in an informal style that intersperses history and philosophy with mathematics, this class-tested, self-contained book demonstrates how some simple construction tools can be associated with various fields of real numbers through coordinate geometry.

This is a text on geometric constructions--a popular area of mathematics since the time of Plato to the modern classroom. The author takes advantage of modern algebra and the resultant coordinate geometry to analyze and classify these problems. Various geometric construction tools are associated with various algebraic fields of numbers and elements of algebra are necessarily encountered while exploring the constructions.

Inhalt
1 Euclidean Constructions.- 2 The Ruler and Compass.- 3 The Compass and the Mohr-Mascheroni Theorem.- 4 The Ruler.- 5 The Ruler and Dividers.- 6 The Poncelet-Steiner Theorem and Double Rulers.- 7 The Ruler and Rusty Compass.- 8 Sticks.- 9 The Marked Ruler.- 10 Paperfolding.- The Back of the Book.- Suggested Reading and References.