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Originally Posted by CaptainBlack  The particular problems you cite are taught not from historical interest but because they lead directly to problems and/or techniques relevant today. |
On the contrary, I think it can very well be taught from historical interest (as well as also being relevant to modern-day problems). Anyone studying or doing research into the history of mathematics will inevitably be interested in the way the ancient Greeks thought and reasoned mathematically, and will therefore be interested in studying the mathematical methods used by the ancient Greeks without reference to their applications to problems of later times.