"The Pythagoreans had shown that the diagonal of a square is the side of another square having double the area of the original one. This probably suggested the problem of the duplication of the cube, i.e. to find the edge of a cube having double the volume of a given cube. Eratosthenes ascribes to this problem a different origin. The Delians were once suffering from a pestilence and were ordered by the oracle to double a certain cubical altar. Thoughtless workmen simply constructed a cube with edges twice as long, but this did not pacify the gods. The error being discovered, Plato was consulted on the matter. He and his disciples searched eagerly for a solution to this "Delian Problem.""
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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_History_of_Mathematics
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A History of Mathematics
A History of Mathematics by Florian Cajori was the first popular history of mathematics written in the United States. It was published in 1893.
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