Euclid Memes

The eternal truth of mathematical principles! While physics textbooks become doorstops after Newton changed the game, and chemistry books turn obsolete once we discovered those pesky electrons, math books from ancient Babylon could still help you ace your calculus final. The Pythagorean theorem hasn't gotten any software updates since 500 BCE, and Euclid's Elements is still torturing high schoolers 2,300 years later. Meanwhile, physicists and chemists are frantically rewriting their textbooks every time someone discovers a new particle or element. Mathematical truths are eternal—which explains why your professor's lecture notes look like they were carbon-dated from the Mesozoic era.

The first four Euclidean postulates are like the appetizers of geometry—simple, digestible, makes perfect sense! Draw lines, they go on forever, make circles, right angles are consistent. Cool cool cool. Then BAM! Postulate 5 hits you with that parallel line nonsense that's basically saying "if these angles add up to less than 180°, two lines that should never meet will eventually hook up." It's like Euclid spent 4 postulates building your trust before dropping the mathematical equivalent of quantum physics on your desk. No wonder mathematicians spent 2000 years trying to prove this was redundant before realizing it's actually the foundation for non-Euclidean geometry. Greatest mathematical plot twist ever!