In order to know the history of how a theorem was created, first we must know the history of the person who invented the theory. The Pythagorean Theorem was invented by Pythagoras of Samos. Much as known about Pythagoras, although many historical facts were not written down about him until centuries after he lived. He was highly involved in the religious sect and founded his own religious movement called Pythagoreanism (Machiavelo, 2009). At or around the time of 530 BC, he moved to Croton where he had a devout religious following and began developing his philosophical and mathematical theories. It is reported that over time, the town of Croton became disingenuous with Pythagoras and his followers, thus forcing them to leave the city. The date of this occurrence is unknown. Pythagoras is most known for creating the Pythagorean Theorem, although scholars dispute his overall involvement in the discovery due to the lack of evidential findings during the time in which he was alive (Machiavelo, 2009). Western philosophy accredits Pythagoras for having an influence on future philosophers such as Plato and it is widely disputed that some of his successors may have been the real founders of many of his mathematical theories (Machiavelo, 2009). In a 2010 article written by Laura Allsop for CNN, Allsop conducted research that dates back 1,000 years prior to Pythagoras. This research is said to have many of the same theories written in scribe that Pythagoras used later on.
“They are the most sophisticated mathematics from anywhere in the world at that time,” said Alexander Jones who is a Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity at New York University (Allsop, 2010). Jones also states that “when we think of ancient mathematics, the first names that come to mind are Pythagoras and Euclid. That shouldn’t be the case.” (Allsop, 2010).
Pythagoras traveled heavily throughout his life, visiting Egypt, Arabia, Judaea, Babylon and even India (Machiavelo, 2009). This travel many believe led to increased knowledge not only of mathematics, but also the ways of the priesthood. Many mathematical discoveries have been attributed to Pythagoras, but it was his religious involvement which had the most profound impression upon his contemporaries (Machiavelo, 2009). Throughout time many searches have been conducted, but currently no texts have been discovered written by Pythagoras. This lack of written information has only intensified the oral nature of his teachings (Machiavelo, 2009).
Pythagoras left his mark in many different sectors, but he is most famously known for the Pythagorean Theorem. This theorem states that the lengths of the two sides of any right triangle will equal the square of the length of the hypotenuse (Smoller, 2001). As mentioned earlier, ancient tablets from Babylonian times have been discovered years before Pythagoras. These tablets had the same rules as the Pythagorean Theorem, but it is highly unlikely Pythagoras had any access to these tablets before discovering his theorem (Smoller, 2001). Due to the lack of any written writings by Pythagoras, we are unaware of how he proved the Pythagorean Theorem, but many scholars argue his discoveries were geometrical in nature (Smoller, 2001). His proofs were demonstrations that the combined areas of squares with sides of length a and b will equal the area of a square with sides of length c, where a, b, and c represent the lengths of the two sides and hypotenuse of a right triangle (Smoller, 2001).
“They are the most sophisticated mathematics from anywhere in the world at that time,” said Alexander Jones who is a Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity at New York University (Allsop, 2010). Jones also states that “when we think of ancient mathematics, the first names that come to mind are Pythagoras and Euclid. That shouldn’t be the case.” (Allsop, 2010).
Pythagoras traveled heavily throughout his life, visiting Egypt, Arabia, Judaea, Babylon and even India (Machiavelo, 2009). This travel many believe led to increased knowledge not only of mathematics, but also the ways of the priesthood. Many mathematical discoveries have been attributed to Pythagoras, but it was his religious involvement which had the most profound impression upon his contemporaries (Machiavelo, 2009). Throughout time many searches have been conducted, but currently no texts have been discovered written by Pythagoras. This lack of written information has only intensified the oral nature of his teachings (Machiavelo, 2009).
Pythagoras left his mark in many different sectors, but he is most famously known for the Pythagorean Theorem. This theorem states that the lengths of the two sides of any right triangle will equal the square of the length of the hypotenuse (Smoller, 2001). As mentioned earlier, ancient tablets from Babylonian times have been discovered years before Pythagoras. These tablets had the same rules as the Pythagorean Theorem, but it is highly unlikely Pythagoras had any access to these tablets before discovering his theorem (Smoller, 2001). Due to the lack of any written writings by Pythagoras, we are unaware of how he proved the Pythagorean Theorem, but many scholars argue his discoveries were geometrical in nature (Smoller, 2001). His proofs were demonstrations that the combined areas of squares with sides of length a and b will equal the area of a square with sides of length c, where a, b, and c represent the lengths of the two sides and hypotenuse of a right triangle (Smoller, 2001).