In the couse of history, many constructions were published that were incorrect. Many of those published were "solutions" to "Problems of Antiquity". Since they were discovered, people have tried to solve them. Only recently (about 200-300) years ago were they all proved to be impossible.

The "Problems of Antiquity" were construction problems. All but one of them concern 2D construction problems. The other one, dealing with a cube, is sometimes not called a "Problem of Antiquity" because of its 3D nature.

Most of the "Problems of Antiquity" (so named for originating in ancient times) came from Ancient Greece or Ancient China (hence the name).

They are as follows:

Trisect an Arbitrary Angle

Construct a Regular Heptagon

Double the Volume of a Cube*

 

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