Pythagoras
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Pythagoras of Samos was a famous Greek mathematician and philosopher (c. 570 – c. 495 BC).[1][2] He is known best for the proof of the important Pythagorean theorem, which is about right angle triangles. He started a group of mathematicians, called the Pythagoreans, who worshiped numbers and lived like monks. He had an influence on Plato.
He had a great impact on mathematics, theory of music and astronomy. His theories are still used in mathematics today. He was one of the greatest thinkers of his time.
Pythagoras was born in Samos, a little island off the western coast of Asia Minor. There is not much information about his life. It is said that he had a good childhood. Growing up with two or three brothers, he was well educated. He did not agree with the government and their schooling, so he moved to Crotone and set up a community of followers. After joining the community his students stayed silent for 5 years, and they did not have any personal possessions. Pythagoras taught them all, and they had to obey strict rules.
Some say he was the first person to use the term philosophy. Since he worked very closely with his group, the Pythagoreans, it is sometimes hard to tell his works from those of his followers.
Religion was important to the Pythagoreans. They swore their oaths by "1+2+3+4" (which equals 10.0). They also believed the soul is immortal and goes through a cycle of rebirths until it can become pure. They believed that these souls were in both animal and plant life. He also believed that any animals soul was the same except for humans because of their higher intelligence.
His beliefs
Pythagoras' most important belief was that the physical world was mathematical and that numbers were the real reality.[2]
- that at its deepest level, reality is mathematical in nature,
- that philosophy can be used for spiritual purification,
- that the soul can rise to union with the divine,
- that certain symbols have a mystical significance, and
- that all brothers of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.
Pythagorean theorem
Pythagoras is most famous for his theorem to do with right triangles. He said that the length of the longest side of the right angled triangle called the hypotenuse (C) squared would equal the sum of the other sides squared. And so a² + b² = c² was born. There are many different proofs for this Pythagorean theorem.
Pythagoras Media
Fictionalized portrait of Pythagoras from a 17th-century engraving
Bronze bust of a philosopher wearing a tainia from Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum, possibly a fictional bust of Pythagoras[3][4]
In Raphael's fresco The School of Athens, Pythagoras is shown writing in a book as a young man presents him with a tablet showing a diagrammatic representation of a lyre above a drawing of the sacred tetractys.[5]
Pythagoreans Celebrate the Sunrise (1869) by Fyodor Bronnikov
Pythagoras Emerging from the Underworld (1662) by Salvator Rosa
The Pythagorean theorem: The sum of the areas of the two squares on the legs (a and b) equals the area of the square on the hypotenuse (c).
References
- ↑ "The dates of his life cannot be fixed exactly, but assuming the approximate correctness of the statement of Aristoxenus (ap. Porph. V.P. 9) that he left Samos to escape the tyranny of Polycrates at the age of forty, we may put his birth round about 570 BC, or a few years earlier. The length of his life was variously estimated in antiquity, but it is agreed that he lived to a fairly ripe old age, and most probably he died at about seventy-five or eighty". Guthrie W.K.C. 1978. A history of Greek philosophy, volume 1: The earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans. Cambridge University Press, page 173.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "JOC/EFR 1999. Pythagoras of Samos". Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- ↑ Dillon 2005.
- ↑ Joost-Gaugier 2006.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bruhn 2005.
- ↑ Gregory 2015.
- ↑ Riedweg 2005.
- ↑ Kahn 2001.
Other websites
Works related to Pythagoras at Wikisource- Pythagoras on Encyclopædia Britannica
- Pythagoras on Citizendium