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Angel Santillan-Gil
Math 101 T/TH
03/28/16
Pythagoras of Samos
Pythagoras of Samos was born in c.570 BCE in the Island of Samos, Greece to Pythais
(mother) and Mnesarchus (father). As a child. Some sources say the Pythagoras had about two or
three siblings. It is also speculated that Pythagoras even married a woman named Theano and
had a daughter named Damo along with a son named Telauges. Other historians say that Theano
was one of his students and Pythagoras never married. Pythagoras was well educated and played
the lyre throughout his lifetime. He also knew poetry and recited Homer. Pythagoras also was
interested in mathematics, philosophy, astronomy and music. Some of his influences were
Pherekydes (philosophy), Thales (math and astronomy) and Anaximander (Philosophy,
geometry). Pythagoras also was said to travel a lot with his father at a young age, visiting places
like Tyre and Italy.
In about 535 BC, Pythagoras left to Egypt to study and learn from Egyptian Priests. In
525 BC, Pythagoras was taken hostage by Persians after the king of Persia invaded Egypt. In
about 520 BC Pythagoras returned to Samos after being studied by the Persians and set free. He
shortly after made a trip to Crete to study the system of laws. When he returned, he founded a
school in Samos called Semicircle, He later founded a philosophical and religious school in
Croton. Finally, it is not exact, but many sources state that Pythagoras died about 475 BC. There
are a few stories on how exactly Pythagoras died. He is said to have been killed by an angry
mob, to have been caught up in a war between the Agrigentum and the Syracusans and killed by
the Syracusans, or been burned out of his school in Crotona and then went to Metapontum where
he starved himself to death. At least two of the stories include a scene where Pythagoras refuses
to trample a crop of bean plants in order to escape, and because of this, he is caught.
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Pythagoras studied add and even numbers, triangular numbers, and perfect numbers.
Pythagoras contributed to our understanding of angles, triangles, areas, proportion, polygons, and
polyhedra. He also related music to mathematics. He had long played the seven string lyre, and
learned how harmonious the vibrating strings sounded when the lengths of the strings were
proportional to whole numbers, such as 2:1, 3:2, 4:3. Pythagoreans also realized that this
knowledge could be applied to other musical instruments.
Pythagoras’s most notable contribution is the invention of the Pythagoras's theorem. This
theorem is used to calculate the side of triangles. The Pythagorean theorem states that the sum of
the squares of the lengths of the two other sides of any right triangle will equal the square of the
length of the hypotenuse, or, in mathematical terms, for the triangle shown at right, a2 + b2 = c2.
Integers that satisfy the conditions a2 + b2 = c2 are called "Pythagorean triples." Although
Pythagoras was credited with discovering the theorem, historians state that the theorem was long
invented by the Pythagoreans long ago before Pythagoras finally published it. The Pythagoreans
wrote many geometric proofs, but it is difficult to ascertain who proved what, as the group
wanted to keep their findings secret. Unfortunately, this vow of secrecy prevented an important
mathematical idea from being made public. But, Pythagoras was the first to actually put the
theorem out there, so he got all the credit for it.
Pythagoras in also known for a few other things such as irrational numbers, the five
regular solids, constructing figures of a given area and geometrical algebra.
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Today, this theorem is used mostly in the fields of geometry and trigonometry. One can also
use the theorem to:
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Determine what kind of latter one needs to get to a roof
Determine the difference between people (height, weight and age)
Find the difference between to places
Build houses and buildings
Art
Making video game environments
There are much more, those are just some examples.
So today I have introduced you all to Pythagoras of Samos. I have shared with you all his
upbringing and his life before death. Then I mentioned some of his significant accomplishments
along with his most noticeable (the Pythagorean Theorem). Finally, I mentioned some of the
modern day uses of this theorem. I leave you all with this quote from Pythagoras himself:
"Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot
control himself.”
Sources
"A Brief History of the Pythagorean Theorem." A Brief History of the Pythagorean
Theorem. N.p., n.d.
Web. 5 Apr. 2016. <http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~demo5337/Group3/hist.html>.
Brainy Quotes. "Pythagoras Quotes." Brainy Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pythagoras.html>.
Douglass, Charlene. "Pythagoras." Math Open Reference. Ed. John Page. John Page, n.d.
Web. 5 Apr.
2016. <http://www.mathopenref.com/pythagoras.html>.
O'Connor, J J, and E F Robertson. "Pythagoras of Samos." Pythagoras of Samos. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 5 Apr.
2016. <http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Pythagoras.html>.
Socrates. "The Cult of Pythagoras." Classical Wisdom Weekly. Ed. Anya Leonard. N.p.,
21 July 2014.
Web. 5 Apr. 2016. <http://classicalwisdom.com/cult-of-pythagoras/>.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, ed. "Pythagoras." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ed.
The Editors
of Encyclopædia Britannica. N.p., 31 Mar. 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.britannica.com/
biography/Pythagoras>.
992751. "Pythagoras’S Effect on Our World Today." Slideshare. N.p., 14 Jan. 2009. Web.
5 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.algebra.com/calculators/geometry/pythagorean.mpl>.