What's the best edition/printing of Euclid's Elements

>>9428288
an original Latin copy used in a Catholic university centuries ago.

Euclid's Elements Redux

>>9428288
depends. Don't read latin for obvious reasons.

If you want to be a student of ancient geometry, read the green lion press edition

>best translation: heath
>large page size
>large figures
>quality paper, easy to write on, no bleed
>no distracting commentary from heath
>single easy-to-reference volume

if you are a lifelong student of mathematics who is only passing by, buy the heath

>best translation: heath
>smaller than the green lion press
>separated into 3 separate volumes, can be irritating
>good page quality as well
>absolutely exquisite commentary from heath

despite all of the pros of the green lion press edition, heath's commentary is invaluable, very good stuff in there, but as I said it can be distracting, and if you want to take seriously the idea of immersing yourself in ancient mathematics instead of just peering down at it, I strongly recommend you get the green lion press and don't buy the heath until you are sure of it.

If you want recommendations of parts to read from the text itself I can give them to you, as there is a great deal in there that any reasonable person might want to skip over (the articulation of dozens of kinds of irrational numbers in book 10 (making for 107 propositions) for example is something you might want to treat with a bit less weight and care as other parts of the book.

if you want a recommendation for the best greek edition of the text i can recommend one as well.

Math is for retarded STEMlords.

>>9428469
Wow, thanks anon.

I like the idea of jumping right in, but I suspect I am too dumb, so I might need heath's commentary.

>>9428483
no no no no, heath's commentary will not be assistive, it is analytic, it will not help you understand what is going on if you don't already, just take your time with book 1, before you move on with a prop, try putting your book away and demonstrating it by yourself on a piece of notebook paper or chalk/white/board without notes, going through every single logical step that is needed to arrive at the conclusion

take your time, don't give up, and make sure to return to a prop if you are having a hard time with it the next day or something, it all makes sense, but there was some stuff in there that it took many hours if not days before I actually understood what was going on in the prop.

probe, ask yourself questions, make sure that everything is logically sound, and that you don't just understand the particular steps he's taking, but the system of thought going into every prop. a good exercise is writing down instead of a detailed proof, a sort of systemic guide to a prop. like: what needs to be proved, what is the turning point (the thing he needs in order to declare the thing proved) and what tools that he developed earlier did he use to get to the turning point

Check out Oliver Byrne's edition. Very comfy.

>>9428288
Gredos' edition is great if you can read Spanish.

>>9428483
the Elements are actually fairly easy to follow, especially if you do the work with pen and paper while reading it
it was used as the standard textbook of geometry for like 2000 years for a reason