Apollonius of perga biography mathematics education

Biography

Apollonius of Perga was known as 'The Great Geometer'. Little is known of his life but his works have had a very great influence on the development of mathematics, in particular his famous book Conics introduced terms which are familiar to us today such as parabola, ellipse and hyperbola.

Apollonius of Perga should not be confused with other Greek scholars called Apollonius, for it was a common name. In [1] details of others with the name of Apollonius are given: Apollonius of Rhodes, born about 295 BC, a Greek poet and grammarian, a pupil of Callimachus who was a teacher of Eratosthenes; Apollonius of Tralles, 2nd century BC, a Greek sculptor; Apollonius the Athenian, 1st century BC, a sculptor; Apollonius of Tyana, 1st century AD, a member of the society founded by Pythagoras; Apollonius Dyscolus, 2nd century AD, a Greek grammarian who was reputedly the founder of the systematic study of grammar; and Apollonius of Tyre who is a literary char