Abstract
In spite of the importance of the method of analysis and synthesis for Greek geometry, ancient mathematicians are remarkably reticent about its nature. In fact, several mathematicians of the seventeenth century shared Descartes’ belief that ancient mathematicians had on purpose hidden this vital method of theirs.1 Such paranoic views notwithstanding, Greek mathematicians’ quest of formally correct proofs, in conjunction with the general theoretical problems associated with the notion of analysis, amply explains the relative lack of explicit discussions of the method of analysis among ancient mathematicians and philosophers. Analysis is after all a method of discovery, not one of proof.
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