Ramble, Part 43: Non-Euclidean Prehistory

The standard history tells us that non-Euclidean geometry was discovered, independently, by Bolyai and Lobachevsky around 1830. The standard history is, as often, somewhat incomplete; several mathematicians had worked in or near the area prior to those two. I'd like to talk about those, first, before going on to the actual achievements of Bolyai and Lobachevsky.

( Three Hypotheses )

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