The Conics of Apollonius

Extract

Apollonius was born at Perga in Pamphylia, in the south of Asia Minor. The date usually assigned to him is 240 B.C., so that he was about seventy years later than Euclid and about thirty years later than Archimedes. He tells us that it was at the suggestion of the geometer Naucrates that he wrote his treatise on Conics, consisting of eight books, and that he composed them somewhat hurriedly, and submitted them to him without revision, simply putting down the different properties as they occurred to him, intending to go over them again afterwards, the reason for his haste being the approaching departure of his friend and guest. He afterwards found time to revise and publish each book separately, and it is in this revised condition that they have come down to us.