With Compass & Straightedge in Hand

Quite early in the classroom pursuit of Euclidean geometry, students learned how to construct the highly familiar right angle by use of the required tools of straightedge and compass. As a result, there is a "natural" unit of angle measure, namely, the right angle. However, use of it as the basic unit seems impractical; it is too large! By such an approach, all acute angles would be fractional, a characteristic less than desirable.

Table of Contents:

CONSTRUCTOMETRICS

HISTORICAL UNCERTAINTY

A CONSTRUCTIBLE UNIT

REFINEMENTS OF THE TRIDE

ARE APPROXIMATIONS ACCEPTABLE?

OTHER NON-CONSTRUCTIBLE UNITS

ABSOLUTE UNITS

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES