previous next


PROPOSITION 1.

If there be as many numbers as we please in continued proportion, and the extremes of them be prime to one another, the numbers are the least of those which have the same ratio with them.

Let there be as many numbers as we please, A, B, C, D, in continued proportion, and let the extremes of them A, D be prime to one another; I say that A, B, C, D are the least of those which have the same ratio with them.

For, if not, let E, F, G, H be less than A, B, C, D, and in the same ratio with them.

Now, since A, B, C, D are in the same ratio with E, F, G, H, and the multitude of the numbers A, B, C, D is equal to the multitude of the numbers E, F, G, H, therefore, ex aequali,

as A is to D, so is E to H. [VII. 14]

But A, D are prime, primes are also least, [VII. 21] and the least numbers measure those which have the same ratio the same number of times, the greater the greater and the less the less, that is, the antecedent the antecedent and the consequent the consequent. [VII. 20]

Therefore A measures E, the greater the less: which is impossible.

Therefore E, F, G, H which are less than A, B, C, D are not in the same ratio with them.

Therefore A, B, C, D are the least of those which have the same ratio with them. Q. E. D.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Greek (J. L. Heiberg, 1883)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: