The Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Socrates challenging a student with the "doubling the square" problem in about 385 B.C.E. When asked to double the area of a square, the student doubled the ...

More than two millennia ago, Plato recorded Socrates posing a riddle to a student: how to double the area of a square. The student tried the obvious—doubling each side—but stumbled. The true solution ...