Everyone in the math world has heard of the pythagorean theorem, however not everyone knows where it came from and who Pythagoras was. Although there is very little about his mathematical achievements, there are many biographies written about Pythagoras written by authors who believed he was a god-like figure, and most refer to him as the first "true" mathematician. Some people believe the information in these biographies are legends, while some think it is important information about the past.
Pythagoras was influenced by both Thales and his acquaintance Anaximander. While Thales was old when Pythagoras visited him, and did not teach him much about mathematics, he interested Pythagoras in mathematics and astronomy and suggested he travel to Egypt to learn more. Pythagoras also attended Anaximander's lectures on Miletus, and learned that Anaximander was interested in geometry and cosmology which influenced Pythagoras' ideas about mathematics as well.
Pythagoras established a school in Croton in 530 BCE which had strict (and odd) rules to all members including being a vegetarian, never urinating towards the sun, and never eating black fava beans. The members of his school were divided up into two groups called the "mathematikoi" and the "akousmatikoi." The mathematikoi were considered the learners, these members continued Pythagoras' mathematical and scientific work. The akousmatikoi were the learners, these members focused on the ritual and religious aspects of the teachings.
The motto of Pythagoras' school was "All is number." He believed that each number had its own meaning, with ten being the "holiest." This was because ten could be derived from the sum of one, two, three and four, which was a large contribution to Pythagoras' intellectual achievements. From here, he figured out that a system of mathematics could be created from geometric elements corresponding with numbers, and integers and their ratios. These were all the parts needed to "establish an entire system of logic and truth."
From here, the Pythagorean Theorem, "for any right-angled triangle, the square of the lengths of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides (a^2 + b^2 = c^2)." The most common triangle is one with the sides of length 3, 4 and 5 that can be drawn with squares as units on each side (drawn below). However, there are infinitely integers known as "Pythagorean triples" that can be used in the Pythagorean Theorem.
Pythagoras was influenced by both Thales and his acquaintance Anaximander. While Thales was old when Pythagoras visited him, and did not teach him much about mathematics, he interested Pythagoras in mathematics and astronomy and suggested he travel to Egypt to learn more. Pythagoras also attended Anaximander's lectures on Miletus, and learned that Anaximander was interested in geometry and cosmology which influenced Pythagoras' ideas about mathematics as well.
Pythagoras established a school in Croton in 530 BCE which had strict (and odd) rules to all members including being a vegetarian, never urinating towards the sun, and never eating black fava beans. The members of his school were divided up into two groups called the "mathematikoi" and the "akousmatikoi." The mathematikoi were considered the learners, these members continued Pythagoras' mathematical and scientific work. The akousmatikoi were the learners, these members focused on the ritual and religious aspects of the teachings.
The motto of Pythagoras' school was "All is number." He believed that each number had its own meaning, with ten being the "holiest." This was because ten could be derived from the sum of one, two, three and four, which was a large contribution to Pythagoras' intellectual achievements. From here, he figured out that a system of mathematics could be created from geometric elements corresponding with numbers, and integers and their ratios. These were all the parts needed to "establish an entire system of logic and truth."
From here, the Pythagorean Theorem, "for any right-angled triangle, the square of the lengths of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides (a^2 + b^2 = c^2)." The most common triangle is one with the sides of length 3, 4 and 5 that can be drawn with squares as units on each side (drawn below). However, there are infinitely integers known as "Pythagorean triples" that can be used in the Pythagorean Theorem.
Along with the Pythagorean Theorem, Pythagoras and his followers also realized that if you take the sum of all the angles in a triangle, the result will always be 180 degrees. He also came up with the idea of number theory, and many different properties of square numbers. Such that if you take a number n and square it, it equals the sum of the first n odd numbers. Finally, they discovered the first pair of amicable numbers (220 and 284).
Although there are many mathematicians who have made an impact on mathematics today, Pythagoras and his contributions of right angled triangles seem to be the influential. Mathematicians have since expanded on Pythagoras' ideas and they are used everyday life. For example, the ideas that Pythagoras introduced can be used to answer numerous questions about a baseball diamond (how far does a catcher need to throw the ball to get from home to second base?). Also, it is used in for contractors to build a layout for houses when they do not know the lengths of a side of a room. Therefore, we should always be thinking about the ideas that Pythagoras introduced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Pythagoras.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pythagorean-Theorem/ (Picture cite).
http://www.slideshare.net/992751/pythagorass-effect-on-our-world-today-presentation
Although there are many mathematicians who have made an impact on mathematics today, Pythagoras and his contributions of right angled triangles seem to be the influential. Mathematicians have since expanded on Pythagoras' ideas and they are used everyday life. For example, the ideas that Pythagoras introduced can be used to answer numerous questions about a baseball diamond (how far does a catcher need to throw the ball to get from home to second base?). Also, it is used in for contractors to build a layout for houses when they do not know the lengths of a side of a room. Therefore, we should always be thinking about the ideas that Pythagoras introduced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Pythagoras.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pythagorean-Theorem/ (Picture cite).
http://www.slideshare.net/992751/pythagorass-effect-on-our-world-today-presentation