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In a 2012 article in The Economist entitled "The half-life of facts", mathematician Samuel Arbesman states that "two high-school students figured out a new way to prove one of Euclid's theorems, something that had not been done in a thousand years."

What theorem is he referring to? Who are these students? Is there a publication?

Pietro Paparella
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  • Is there a publication? Yes: the book which the author discusses on the linked page. Samuel Arbesman, a mathematician at Harvard, calls this "The Half-life of Facts", the title of his new book. In it he explains . . . – Weather Vane Sep 10 '19 at 19:28

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According to this article in the New York Times, it's Euclid Book VI, Proposition 10, and the article is

"Euclid, Fibonacci, Sketchpad", Litchfield, Daniel C.; Goldenheim, David A. Mathematics Teacher, v90 n1 p8-12 Jan 1997

(https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ538281)

It was reprinted in Math Horizons, https://doi.org/10.1080/10724117.1996.11974999.

Chappers
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