Common Notions

1. Things which equal the same thing also equal one another.
2. If equals are added to equals, then the wholes are equal.
3. If equals are subtracted from equals, then the remainders are equal.
4. Things which coincide with one another equal one another.
5. The whole is greater than the part.
Guide
These common notions, sometimes called axioms, refer to magnitudes of one kind.
The various kinds of magnitudes that occur in the Elements include lines, angles,
plane figures, and solid figures. The first Common Notion could be applied to plane
figures to say, for instance, that if a triangle equals a rectangle, and the rectangle
equals a square, then the triangle also equals the square. Magnitudes of the same kind
can be compared and added, but magnitudes of different kinds cannot. For instance, a
line cannot be added to a rectangle, nor can an angle be compared to a pentagon.
C.N.4 requires interpretation. On the face of it, it seems to say that if two things are
identical (that is, they are the same one), then they are equal, in other words, anything
equals itself. But the way it traditionally is interpreted is as a justification of a
principle of superposition, which is used, for instance, in proposition I.4. Using this
principle, if one thing can be moved to coincide with another, then they are equal. See
the notes on I.4 for more discussion on this point.
C.N.5, the whole is greater than the part, could be interpreted as a definition of
greater than. To say one magnitude B is a part of another A could be taken as saying
that A is the sum of B and C for some third magnitudeC, the remainder.
Symbolically, A > B means that there is some C such that A = B + C. At any rate,
Euclid frequently treats these two conditions as being equivalent.
There are a number of properties of magnitudes used in Book I besides the listed
Common Notions. Here are a few of them and locations where they are used.
1. If not x = y, then x > y or x < y. I.6
2. Not both x < y and x = y. I.6
3. If not not x = y, then x = y. I.6
4. If x < y and y = z, then x < z. I.7
5. If x < y and y < z, then x < z. I.7
6. If x = y and y < z, then x < z. I.16
7. If x < y, then x + z < y + z. I.17
8. If not x > y, then x = y or x < y. I.19
9. If not x < y and not x = y, then x > y. I.19
10. If 2x = 2y, then x = y. I.37
11. If x = y, then 2x = 2y. I.42
Number 3 is an instance of the logical principle of double negation, rather than a
common notion. Number 11 is a special case of C.N.2 since doubling is a special case
of addition, that is, 2x is just x + x. Some of the others are logical variants of each
other, for instance, numbers 1, 8, and 9 are all equivalent to the statement that at least
one of the three cases x < y, x = y, or x > y holds. Statement 2 says that two of those
cases cannot simultaneously hold. The statement that
for two magnitudes x and y of the same kind, exactly one of the three
cases x < y, x = y, or x > y holds
is called the law of trichotomy for magnitudes. This law, in particular, really ought to
have been made an explicit common notion.
A modern presentation
In modern mathematics, axioms such as these would form the basis of an abstract
algebra. Typically a presentation is given symbolically and in terms of set theory,
although the set theory isnt necessary. Here is an outline for a presentation for
magnitudes. This outline doesnt have many of the details that would normally be
included.
First, assume there is a binary relation on a set of magnitudes of the same kind
called equality, denoted as usual with an equal sign as in x = y. (This equality is not
identity as we want different magnitudes, such as two different triangles, to be equal.
Alternatively, we could identify equal magnitudes so that equality is identity.)
Assume that equality is what is called an equivalence relation, that is, it satisfies three
axioms:
Reflexivity: For each x, x = x.
Symmetry: If x = y, then y = x.
Transitivity: If x = y and y = z, then x = z.
Next, assume a binary operation called addition and written the usual
way, x + y. Furthermore, assume addition satisfies the axioms
Substitution of equals: If x = y, then x + z = y + z, and z + x = z + y.
Associativity: For each x, y, and z, (x + y) + z = x + (y + z).
Commutativity: For each x and y, x + y = y + x.
Associativity and commutativity together imply that the order that addition is
performed is irrelevant. An algebra satisfying only associativity is called
a semigroup, while a semigroup that also satisfies commutativity is called
a commutative semigroup or an Abelian semigroup. When other axioms are added for
zero and negation, then the algebra is called a group, and when commutative, an
Abelian group. Groups are some of the most important algebraic structures in modern
mathematics.
We can now define order in terms of addition. Define a binary relation less than by
taking x < y to mean that there is some z such that x + z = y. And let greater than just
have the opposite order, that is, x > y means y <x. A number of properties of order can
be easily proved.
If x < y and y = z, then x < z.
If x = y and y < z, then x < z.
If x < y and y < z, then x < z.
If x < y, then x + z < y + z, and z + x < z + y.
Next, assume an axiom for cancellation:
If x + z = y + z, then x = y.
With this axiom, subtraction can be defined, at least up to equality. If x < y, that is to
say, there is some z such that x + z = y, then we may define y x as that z, since, under
the axiom of cancelation, any other magnitude wsuch that x + w = y would
equal z. Subtraction is characterized by the property that
x + z = y if and only if z = y x.
The expected properties of subtraction, listed below, can be easily proved. Whenever
a difference is indicated, such as x y, it is implicitly assumed that x > y. Only a few
of these properties are used in Book I.
If x = y, then x z = y z, and w x = w y
If x = y and w = z, then x w = y z.
(x + y) y = x.
(x y) + y = x.
(x y) (w z) = (x w) (y z).
If x < y, then z x > z y.
If x < y and w = z, then x w < y z.
If x = y and w < z, then x w > y z.
If x < y and w > z, then x w < y z.
The law of trichotomy still isnt covered. It can be split into two parts: at most one of
the three cases can occur, and at least one of the three cases occurs. The first can be
stated as an axiom of addition as
It is not the case that x = x + y.
And that says it is not the case that x > x. The other half requires the axiom
For each x and y, either x = y, or there is some z such that x + z = y, or there is
some z such that x = y + z.
With these axioms, all the properties of magnitudes needed in the first few books of
the Elements can be proved. For instance, we can prove
If 2x = 2y, then x = y.
using the same outline that Euclid used to prove proposition I.6.
Let twice x equal twice y. I say that x equals y.
If x does not equal y, then one of them is greater. Let x be greater.
Then x + x > y + y, that is, twice x is greater than twice y. But twice x was
assumed to equal twice y, the less equals the greater, which is absurd.
Therefore x and y are not unequal. Therefore they are equal. Q.E.D.
Book V will require more properties of magnitudes, and in that book, pairs of
magnitudes of different kinds will be compared by using ratios.