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Widely regarded as a classic of modern mathematics, this expanded version of Felix Klein's celebrated 1894 lectures uses contemporary techniques to examine three famous problems of antiquity: doubling the volume of a cube, trisecting an angle, and squaring a circle. Today's students will find this volume of particular interest in its answers to such questions as: Under what circumstances is a geometric construction possible? By what means can a geometric construction be effected? What are transcendental numbers, and how can you prove that e and pi are transcendental? The straightforward treatment requires no higher knowledge of mathematics. Unabridged reprint of the classic 1930 second edition.