"Geometry should not include lines that are like strings, in that they are sometimes straight and sometimes curved, since the ratios between straight and curved lines are not known, and I believe cannot be discovered by human minds, and therefore no conclusion based upon such ratios can be accepted as rigorous and exact. Nevetheless, since strings can be used in these constructions only to determine lines whose lengths are known, they need not be wholly excluded"
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History of algebra
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