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Pythagoras and his contribution to math
Pythagoras and his contribution to math
Pythagoras and his contribution to math
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Cole Bauer
Calculus Q3 Project
February 18, 2014
Pythagoras to Anaximander
Pythagoras was one of the first true mathematicians who was not only known for the famous Pythagorean theorem. His father was from Tyre while his mother was from Samos but when Pythagoras was born and growing up he spent most of his time in Samos but as he grew he began to spend a lot of time with his father. His father was a merchant and so Pythagoras travelled extensively with him to many places. He learned things as he went along with his father but the primary teacher known to be in his life was Pherekydes. Thales was also a teacher for himself and he learned some from him but he mainly inspired him. Thales was old when Pythagoras was 20 and so Thales told him to go to Egypt and learn more about the subjects he enjoyed which were cosmology and geometry. In Egypt most of the temples where the learning took place refused him entry and the only one that would was called Diospolis. He was then accepted into the priesthood and because of the discussions between the priests he learned more and more about geome...
The Greek poet Hesiod wrote the poem Theogony circa 700 B.C., which depicted a theory to the earth’s conception. It portrays three generations of gods and how the Olympians came out victorious from the war against the Titans with Zeus as their leader. This founded the main belief system for the Ancient Greeks and was publicized through word of mouth. This polytheistic understanding to creation differs from that of the Old Testament. To this day, it is still unknown who authored Genesis, the first book of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible, but it was likely written by more than one person, particularly three writers: Jehovist or Yahwist, Elohist, and Priestly, also known as the “Authors of Genesis.” In this interpretation, there was a
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Geometry, a cornerstone in modern civilization, also had its beginnings in Ancient Greece. Euclid, a mathematician, formed many geometric proofs and theories [Document 5]. He also came to one of the most significant discoveries of math, Pi. This number showed the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle.
The true essence of human nature is seen during times of great hardships as can be seen comparing Pericles' Funeral Oration and the plague in Thucydides', The History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides accounts for many different aspects of justice, power, and human nature through his text. The order, the style of his writing, choice of words, and relations of what he believes actually happened, allows the reader to make different inferences about the message he's trying to convey. The juxtaposition of the two stories portrays many different characteristics to investigate and analyze.
Hippocrates taught in Athens and worked on squaring the circle and also worked on duplicating the cube. He grew far in these areas and although his work is not lost, it must have contained much of what Euclid later included in Books One and Two of the Elements.
“Why Herodotus believed Culture is King” Herodotus believed preservation of culture had to be the dominant policy in maintaining, and controlling an empire, thus believing that “culture is king”, Herodotus celebrated the cultures, and achievements of humanity. In Herodotus he writes, “The actions of people shall not fade with time, so the great and admirable monuments produced by both Greeks and Barbarians shall not go unrenowned, and among other things, set forth the reasons why they waged war against each other. ””(Herodotus)” this quote sums up Herodotus’s view, that culture is something that needed to be preserved, and documented. Through his many journeys and travels, Herodotus documented everything, and wrote about many cultures, and societies. He made it a point to not only gather information, and the specific culture, but the reasoning behind the rituals.
Empedocles was born in Acragas, Sicily about 492 BCE to a distinguished and aristocratic family. His father, Meto, is believed to have been involved in overthrowing Thrasydaeus who was the tyrant of Agrigentum in the year 470 BCE. Empedocles is said to have been somewhat wealthy and was a popular politician and a champion of democracy and equality.
One of the most well known contributors to math from Greece would be Archimedes. He
Euclid, who lived from about 330 B.C.E. to 260 B.C.E., is often referred to as the Father of Geometry. Very little is known about his life or exact place of birth, other than the fact that he taught mathematics at the Alexandria library in Alexandria, Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy I. He also wrote many books based on mathematical knowledge, such as Elements, which is regarded as one of the greatest mathematical/geometrical encyclopedias of all time, only being outsold by the Bible.
For the Greeks philosophy wasn’t restricted to the abstract it was also their natural science. In this way their philosophers were also their scientist. Questions such as what is the nature of reality and how do we know what is real are two of the fundamental questions they sought to answer. Pythagoras and Plato were two of the natural philosophers who sought to explain these universal principles. Pythagoras felt that all things could be explained and represented by mathematical formulae. Plato, Socrate’s most important disciple, believed that the world was divided into two realms, the visible and the intelligible. Part of the world, the visible, we could grasp with the five senses, but the intelligible we could only grasp with our minds. In their own way they both sought to explain the nature of reality and how we could know what is real.
Physics began when man first started to study his surroundings. Early applications of physics include the invention of the wheel and of primitive weapons. The people who built Stone Henge had knowledge of physical mechanics in order to move the rocks and place them on top of each other. It was not until during the period of Greek culture that the first systematic treatment of physics started with the use of mechanics. Thales is often said to have been the first scientist, and the first Greek philosopher. He was an astronomer, merchant and mathematician, and after visiting Egypt he is said to have originated the science of deductive geometry. He also discovered theorems of elementary geometry and is said to have correctly predicted an eclipse of the sun. Many of his studies were in astronomy but he also observed static electricity. Phythogoras was a Greek philosopher. He discovered simple numerical ratios relating the musical tones of major consonances, to the length of the strings used in sounding them. The Pythagorean theorem was named after him, although this fundamental statements of deductive geometry was most likely first an idea from Egyptian methods of measurements. With the help of his followers he discovered that the earth was a sphere, but he did not believe it revolved around the sun.
Many people believe that Pythagoras of Samos was alone the author of the Pythagorean Theorem. Pythagoras was a Greek Philosopher from Samos and lived approximately from 570 BC to 495 BC. During his life time he founded the Pythagoreanism which was a type of cult that was religious and scientific but was very secretive. Evidence from other nations shows Pythagoras was not the only one to have developed this type of theorem. Historians have found evidence that proves that the Egyptians and Chinese had a very similar theorem. From this evidence many believe that Pythagoras was influenced by either nation. Still others believe ...
Thales was a mathematician that studied in Egypt and is well-known for his famous theorem about right angles. 2He is also celebrated for stating that water was the only principle of nature because without water all living things will die. The contraries of the water theory were the condensing and rarefying of the water which would make it into different forms.
Euclid of Alexandria was born in about 325 BC. He is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity best known for his dissertation on mathematics. He was able to create “The Elements” which included the composition of many other famous mathematicians together. He began exploring math because he felt that he needed to compile certain things and fix certain postulates and theorems. His book included, many of Eudoxus’ theorems, he perfected many of Theaetetus's theorems also. Much of Euclid’s background is very vague and unknown. It is unreliable to say whether some things about him are true, there are two types of extra information stated that scientists do not know whether they are true or not. The first one is that given by Arabian authors who state that Euclid was the son of Naucrates and that he was born in Tyre. This is believed by historians of mathematics that this is entirely fictitious and was merely invented by the authors. The next type of information is that Euclid was born at Megara. But this is not the same Euclid that authors thought. In fact, there was a Euclid of Megara, who was a philosopher who lived approximately 100 years before Euclid of Alexandria.
Euclid, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, lived from 323-283 BC. He was a famous Greek mathematician, often referred to as the ‘Father of Geometry”. The dates of his existence were so long ago that the date and place of Euclid’s birth and the date and circumstances of his death are unknown, and only is roughly estimated in proximity to figures mentioned in references around the world. Alexandria was a broad teacher that taught lessons across the world. He taught at Alexandria in Egypt. Euclid’s most well-known work is his treatise on geometry: The Elements. His Elements is one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics, serving as the source textbook for teaching mathematics on different grade levels. His geometry work was used especially from the time of publication until the late 19th and early 20th century Euclid reasoned the principles of what is now called Euclidean geometry, which came from a small set of axioms on the Elements. Euclid was also famous for writing books using the topic on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory, and rigor.