Compass and Straightedge Constructions - Impossible Constructions

Impossible Constructions

The following three construction problems, whose origins date from Greek antiquity, were considered impossible in the sense that they could not be solved using only the compass and straightedge. With modern mathematical methods this "consideration" of the Greek mathematicians can be proved to be correct. The problems themselves, however, are doable, and the Greeks knew how to solve them, without the constraint of working only with straightedge and compass.

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