The Foundations of Geometry

Geometry, like arithmetic, requires for its logical development only a small number of simple, fundamental principles: the axioms of geometry. The choice of axioms and their relations to one another is a problem which, has been discussed since the time of Euclid. This problem is tantamount to the logical analysis of our intuition of space. Hilbert attempts to choose for geometry a simple and complete set of independent axioms and to deduce from these the most important geometrical theorems so as to bring out as clearly as possible the significance of the different groups of axioms and the scope of the conclusions to be derived from the individual axioms.

David Hilbert (1862-1943) was arguably the most influential mathematician of the twentieth century.