Elementary Euclidean Geometry: Postulates

P1 Line Uniqueness Postulate Through any two points there is one and only one line. P2 Ruler Postulate We may divide a line's length into a sequence of congruent segments. We may then assign integer values to the endpoints in such a way that, for a given choice of direction along the line, each next point is assigned the next integer. Each point between these endpoints is assigned a real in such a way that : a. Distinct points are assigned distinct reals. b. If, for our given choice of direction along the line, point Q comes after point P, then the assigned to Q is greater than the real assigned to P.

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On any such assignment, the real that corresponds to a point is its coordinate and the distance between points is the absolute value of the difference of their coordinates. P3 Segment Addition Postulate Point T lies between points A and B just if the length of AB is the sum of the lengths AT and BT. P4 Shortest Path Postulate Of all possible paths that begin in one point and end in another, the shortest is the line segment. P5 Point Existence Postulate Every line contains at least two points. Every plane contains at least three non-collinear points. Space contains at least four non-coplanar points. P6 Line Containment Postulate If two points lie in a plane, then the line through those points is contained wholly in that plane. P7 Plane Uniqueness Postulate Any three points lie in at least one plane, and any three non-collinear points lie in exactly one plane. P8 Plane Intersection Postulate The intersection of two planes is one line. P9 Plane Separation Postulate Given a line and a plane in which in lies, the points of the plane that do not lie on the line form two sets such that: a. each of the sets is convex, and b. if P is in one set and Q is in the other, then the segment PQ intersects the line. P10 Space Separation Postulate The points of space that do not lie in a given plane form two sets such that: a. each of the sets is convex, and b. if P is in one set and Q is in the other, then the segment PQ intersects the plane. P11 Protractor Postulate We may divide the circumference of a circle into 360 congruent arcs and assign to their endpoints in sequence the values from 0 to 359. We say that the direction along the circle is the direction of increase of these values. Points between these endpoints are assigned reals in such a way that:

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a. Distinct points are assigned distinct reals between 0 and 360. b. If point Q comes after point P for our direction along the circle, then the real assigned to Q greater than the real assigned to P.

The measure of an arc is then the absolute value of the difference of the values assigned to its endpoints. Arc measure determines angle measure in this way: d. We construct a circle whose center is the vertex of our angle. e. We mark the points where the angle's sides intersect the circle. Call these S and T. f. We then say that the measure of the angle equals the measure of the arc ST that lies in the interior.

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P12 Angle Addition Postulate If point T lies in the interior of CAB , then mBAT + mCAT = mCAB . P13 Side Angle Side Triangle Congruence Postulate If two sides and the included angle of one triangle are congruent to two sides and the included angle of a second triangle, then the triangles are congruent congruence. P14 Parallel Postulate Through a point not on a given line, there is at most one line parallel to the given line. P15 Similarity Postulate For any given figure and any real k, there exists a second figure similar to the first such that the scale factor from first to second is k. P16 Area Existence To every finite planar region there corresponds a unique positive real number that we call its area. P17 Area Equality If two closed figures are congruent, then the regions enclosed within them have the same area. P18 Area Addition Suppose that the region R is the union of two regions R1 and R2. If R1 and R2 intersect at most in a finite number of segments and points, then the area of R is the sum of the areas of R1 and R2. P19 Rectangle Area The area of a rectangle is the product of the length of its base and the length of its altitude. P20 Volume Existence To every finite spatial region there corresponds a unique positive number that we call its volume. P21 Prism Volume The volume of a right prism is equal to the product of the length of its altitude and the area of the base. P22 Cavalieris Principle Given two solids and a plane, if for every plane that intersects the solids and is parallel to the given plane the two intersections determine regions that have the same area, then the two solids have the same volume.

Commentary
Let me speak about the whole of the postulate set to begin. After I will discuss each postulate in turn. I have seem geometry compared to a game in which the postulates are the rules. This captures only part of what we do in geometry. Yes, postulates do tell us what move we can make. But postulates are more than this. Unlike the rules of a game, postulates should be self-evident. Judged in itself, each should be quite certainly true. Moreover, that certainty will be transmitted to the theorems. Indeed the best way to conceive of proof is this: a proof is the transmission of the certainty that belongs to the postulates by means of ironclad laws of logic. (This is the ideal, anyway, even if we don't always achieve it.) Now, I don't mean to say that a postulate should be obvious at first glance. Some will be. Some won't. Rather I mean to say that once they are understood - and this might take quite a bit of time - they will be selfevident.1 The postulate set is not the most compact possible. We could do with fewer postulates. But if we cut it down, we'd pay a price. Consider for instance the Similarity Postulate. It is not independent of the Parallel Postulate. Rather the two are equivalent. Assume one, and the other follows. But if we cut one (and the one to cut is of course the Similarity Postulate), certain proofs would become much more complex. Since the course is elementary Euclidean geometry, I think it best to use both. Now for individual postulates. P1 Note that we have here two claims. The first is that there is at least one line that passes through any two given points. The second is that there is at most one line that passes through any two points. We can simplify if we like and say that through any two points, there is exactly one line. Note as well that we sometimes say that two points determine a line. By this we mean that through those two points, one and only one line passes. P2 (What I say here applies to P10 as well.) The statement that I give of the Ruler Postulate is precisely the explanation of its use that I give to students. It is a description of the process whereby a plain line becomes a number line. It is perhaps a bit wordy, but it is easily understood. P2, and P10 too, mark a radical departure from the geometry of Euclid's Elements. There we do not have a system of numerical measures for such things are line segments and angles. In modern geometry, we most certainly do, and postulates P2 and P10 tell us how to do it. (One should note as well that we could say the same about P16 through P22. Together they define the notions of area and volume and give us a means to uniquely assign numerical measures to areas and volumes.) P4 This postulate does not often appear among the postulates of a system of elementary Euclidean geometry. But it has great intuitive appeal and greatly simplifies the proof of certain theorems. Consider, for instance, the Triangle Two-Path Inequality. It says that the sum of the lengths of any two sides of a triangle exceeds the length of the third side. This seems perfectly obvious, yet the usual proof of this is to students difficult to grasp. So, then, students find themselves in this position: they are asked to prove the obvious by means of the non-obvious. This sort of thing makes them despise proof. Thus I think it wise to add P4 to the set of postulates. P10 I assume, of course, that if we place our angle at the center of more than one circle, then it will intercept the same fraction of each circle's circumference. (If this were not so, an angle might have many
1

Of course, Lobachevsky, Riemann and others have taught us that the postulates of Euclidean geometry are not the only possible and thus that they define only one of a number of possible geometries. This does not impugn their selfevidence, rather it restricts that self-evidence to a geometry of a Euclidean sort.

measures.) What gives me the right to this assumption? It is simply this: all circles are similar. I don't think this a defect. Some postulates presuppose the truth of one or another theorem, as do some definitions. P11 In modern texts, one sometimes finds the Protractor Postulate stated in such a way that angle measures equal to or greater than 180 are not defined. This is a mistake. Consider the concave quadrilateral below.

We most certainly do have a quadrilateral angle at A, and it most certainly measures greater than 180. P13 Euclid proves all of his triangle congruence rules. The proof of SAS is found in Book 1, Proposition 4. To do so, he makes implicit use of assumptions to do with the rigid transformation of geometrical objects. One could of course follow Euclid, but that would require the inclusion of a set of transformation postulates. This seems to me to muddy the waters, and so I have done it. P15 Most current texts make use of another equivalent postulate, the so-called Angle-Angle Similarity Postulate. This is pedagogically suspect. I find P16 much more intuitive than Angle-Angle Similarity. Students do too.