Euclid and his Modern Rivals is a mathematical work by the English mathematician Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), issued in 1879 under his real name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. It considers the theoretical work of a series of contemporary mathematicians, demonstrating how each in turn is either inferior to or functionally identical to that of Euclid. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) – believed to be a self-portrait Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: ) (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Euclid (Greek: ), also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician of the Hellenistic period who flourished in Alexandria, Egypt, almost certainly during the reign of Ptolemy I (323 BC-283 BC). ...

In it Dodgson tries to support using Euclid's geometry textbook The Elements as the geometry textbook in schools against more modern geometry textbooks that were replacing it. Euclid's ghost returns in the play to defend his book against its modern rivals and tries to demonstrate how all of them are inferior to his book. The frontispiece of Sir Henry Billingsleys first English version of Euclids Elements, 1570 Euclids Elements (Greek: ) is a mathematical and geometric treatise, consisting of 13 books, written by the Hellenistic mathematician Euclid in Alexandria circa 300 BC. It comprises a collection of definitions, postulates (axioms), propositions (theorems...

Despite its scholarly subject and content, the work takes the form of a whimsical dialogue, principally between a mathematician named Minos and a "devil's advocate" named Professor Niemand (German for 'nobody') who represents the "Modern Rivals" of the title. In common parlance, a devils advocate is someone who takes a position for the sake of argument. ...