What is Geometry?

Geometry stands for:

geo which means earth and metria which means measure. (Greek)
A major contributor to the field of geometry was Euclid - 325 ! who is ty"ically known as
the #ather of Geometry and is famous for his works called $he Elements% As one "rogresses
through the grades& Euclidian geometry ('lane Geometry) is a big "art of what is studied%
(owe)er& non-Eucledian geometry will become a focus in the later grades and college math%
*im"ly "ut& geometry is the study of the si+e& sha"e and "osition of 2 dimensional sha"es and
3 dimensional figures% (owe)er& geometry is used daily by almost e)eryone% ,n geometry&
one e-"lores s"atial sense and geometric reasoning% Geometry is found e)erywhere. in art&
architecture& engineering& robotics& land sur)eys& astronomy& scul"tures& s"ace& nature& s"orts&
machines& cars and much more%
/hen taking geometry& s"atial reasoning and "roblem sol)ing skills will be de)elo"ed%
Geometry is linked to many other to"ics in math& s"ecifically measurement and is used daily
by architects& engineers& architects& "hysicists and land sur)eyors just to name a few% ,n the
early years of geometry the focus tends to be on sha"es and solids& then mo)es to "ro"erties
and relationshi"s of sha"es and solids and as abstract thinking "rogresses& geometry becomes
much more about analysis and reasoning%
Geometry is in e)ery "art of the curriculum 0-12 and through to college and uni)ersity% *ince
most educational jurisdictions use a s"iraling curriculum& the conce"ts are re-)isited
throughout the grades ad)ancing in le)el of difficulty% $y"ically in the early years& learners
identify sha"es and solids& use "roblem sol)ing skills& deducti)e reasoning& understand
transformations& symmetry and use s"atial reasoning% $hroughout high school there is a focus
on analy+ing "ro"erties of two and three dimensional sha"es& reasoning about geometric
relationshi"s and using the coordinate system% *tudying geometry "ro)ides many
foundational skills and hel"s to build the thinking skills of logic& deducti)e reasoning&
analytical reasoning and "roblem sol)ing to name just a few%
*ome of the tools often used in geometry include. !om"ass& "rotractors& s2uares& gra"hing
calculators& Geometer3s *ketch"ad& rulers etc%
Common Terms in Geometry:
4ines and *egments
*ha"es and *olids
$riangles and Angles
'latonic *olids
!oordinate Grids
5adians
!onic *ections
!ircumference
'olygons
$rigonometry
http://math.about.com/od/geometry/a/whygeom.htm