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Because Optics contributed a new dimension to the study of vision, it influenced later scientists. In particular, Ptolemy used Euclid's mathematical treatment of vision and his idea of a visual cone in combination with physical theories in Ptolemy's Optics, which has been called "one of the most important works on optics written before Newton". [3]
The early writers discussed here treated vision more as a geometrical than as a physical, physiological, or psychological problem. The first known author of a treatise on geometrical optics was the geometer Euclid (c. 325 BC–265 BC). Euclid began his study of optics as he began his study of geometry, with a set of self-evident axioms.
Alternatively, Euclid's can be interpreted as a mathematical model whose only constraint was to save the phenomena, without the need of a strict correspondence between each theoretical entity and a physical counterpart. Measuring the speed of light was one line of evidence that spelled the end of emission theory as anything other than a metaphor.
The angle scale is absolute, and Euclid uses the right angle as his basic unit, so that, for example, a 45-degree angle would be referred to as half of a right angle. The distance scale is relative; one arbitrarily picks a line segment with a certain nonzero length as the unit, and other distances are expressed in relation to it.
In the term "20/20 vision" the numerator refers to the distance in feet from which a person can reliably distinguish a pair of objects. The denominator is the distance from which an 'average' person would be able to distinguish —the distance at which their separation angle is 1 arc minute .
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Commentary on the Data of Euclid. This work is written at a relatively advanced level as Theon tends to shorten Euclid's proofs rather than amplify them. [2] Commentary on the Optics of Euclid. This elementary-level work is believed to consist of lecture notes compiled by a student of Theon. [2] Commentary on the Almagest.
The pons asinorum in Oliver Byrne's edition of the Elements [1]. In geometry, the theorem that the angles opposite the equal sides of an isosceles triangle are themselves equal is known as the pons asinorum (/ ˈ p ɒ n z ˌ æ s ɪ ˈ n ɔːr ə m / PONZ ass-ih-NOR-əm), Latin for "bridge of asses", or more descriptively as the isosceles triangle theorem.