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Contributions of pythagoras
Importance of mathematics in society essay
Importance of mathematics in society essay
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Since the beginning of human history, math has been essential to our species. One needs it daily - even if one is not a math teacher, or a rocket scientist! From paying for gas at Goco’s to making an A on the next math test, everyone needs math. How a man or woman can manipulate numbers the way a certain man, Pythagoras, did in the past is beyond my level of comprehension. But who exactly is Pythagoras?
Pythagoras was born in Samos, Greece in 569 BC and died somewhere around 500 BC in Metapontum, Italy. He is often referred to as “the first pure mathematician,” even though he also made huge contributions to other fields, such as religion, science, and philosophy. We are not certain what Pythagoras’s family was like. Some historians believe
Through history, as said before, many philosophers have supported and developed what Pythagoras first exposed to the world. One of the most important philosophers to support Pythagoras’s ideas was Plato. In some of his writings he discusses the creation of the universe based on the musical proportions discovered by Pythagoras (Timaeus), and the explanation of the sound emitted by the planets, which is exposed in the “Myth of Er” in The Republic. It talks about a man who died and came back to life who narrates how he saw the space and how, in every “sphere,” there was a being singing constantly, each one in a different tone, so a perfect harmony was built. Nevertheless, not everyone agreed with this theory, being one of its most important critics Aristotle, who claimed that Plato’s arguments where false in his text On the Heavens. He acknowledges that it is a creative and innovative theory, but it is absurd to think that such music, which is imperceptible to us, exists in a harmonic way up in the heavens. I am not going to go deeper into that for it is not relevant for the text. As the years went on, many people continued developing this theory. Nevertheless, this philosophical theory, not truly explained until later on, was an inspiration for many artists and that is why not only philosophers but many other artists mention and base their works upon this theory.
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.
Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse, a Greek seaport colony in Sicily. Archimedes’ father was Phidias. He was an astronomer; this is all we know about his father and we learn this from Archimedes’ work, The Sandreckoner. Archimedes was educated in Alexandria, Egypt. Archimedes’ friend, Heracleides, wrote a biography about him, but this work was lost. Some authors report that he visited Egypt and there invented a tool known as Archimedes' screw. This is a pump, still used today in parts of the world. It is likely that, when he was a young man, Archimedes studied with the followers of Euclid. Many of his ideas seem to correspond with the mathematics developed there. This speculation is much more certain because he sent his results to Alexandria with personal messages. He considered Conon of Samos, one of the greatest achieving mathematicians at Alexandria, both for his abilities as a mathematician and he also respected him as a close friend.
The great Greek thinker Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stagirus, a city in ancient Macedonia in northern Greece. At the age of eighteen Aristotle went to Athens to begin his studies at Plato's Academy. He stayed and studied at the Academy for nineteen years and in that time became both a teacher and an independent researcher. After Plato's death in 347 B.C. Aristotle spent twelve years traveling and living in various places around the Aegean Sea. It was during this time that Aristotle was asked by Philip of Macedon to be a private tutor to his son, Alexander. Aristotle privately taught Alexander for three years before he returned to Athens after Philip gained control of the Greek capital. During this period back in Athens Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught for twelve years. In 323 B.C. Alexander the Great died and the Macedonians lost control of Athens. Aristotle was forced to leave and he died one year later in Chalcis, north of Athens, at the age of 62.
Pericles was born in 495 BC in Athens, Greece. He was born into a wealthy family. His father was Xanthippus, and his mother was Agariste. His father was an Athenian general and statesman, so it is said that Pericles gained an understanding of the city and its people from his father. When he was younger his father made sure he had a great education. He learned music from the tutelage of Damon. He also learned math from the theoretical physicist Zeno of Elea. Pericles was a great leader of Athens and the people of the city thought so as well. He strived to make Athens a better place with more peace, and he encouraged education which helped Athens become even better. Pericles should be most remembered by his political career, military achievements, and the reforms he made for Athens.
The mathematicians of Pythagoras's school (500 BC to 300 BC) were interested in numbers for their mystical and numerological properties. They understood the idea of primality and were interested in perfect and amicable numbers.
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.
He was also thought to be famous for his astronomical work also but it wasn’t that accurate. Apollonius’ work had great influence on the development of mathematics. Apollonius was known to be born in 262 BC, Perga, Pamphylia. Today that is known as Murtiana or Murtana now in Antalya, Turkey.
Archimedes was born in syracuse in 187 BC. he was the son on the astronomer and mathematician Phidias. Not a lot is known of Archimedes early life or family. Some people think that archimedes was related to hiero II, the king of syracuse. In the third century BC Syracuse was a large hub for trade and communication. When in Syracuse as a kid Archimedes became curious and adept. Archimedes learned a lot from his teachers in Syracuse but soon he found there was more knowledge to be found in Egipt. So in 331 BC he traveled to Alexandria, a place of knowledge and scholarship.
The simplest forms of equations in algebra were actually discovered 2,200 years before Mohamed was born. Ahmes wrote the Rhind Papyrus that described the Egyptian mathematic system of division and multiplication. Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Erasasth, and other great mathematicians followed Ahmes (“Letters”). Although not very important to the development of algebra, Archimedes (212BC – 281BC), a Greek mathematician, worked on calculus equations and used geometric proofs to prove the theories of mathematics (“Archimedes”).
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.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city. He lived with his mother, Perictione, and his father, Ariston (Until Ariston died.)
384 B.C.E., Aristotle was born in Stagira, Greece. At the age of fourteen, Aristotle went to Athens to study Philosophy with Plato. Although he studied with Plato, he did not always agree with some of his teachings. When Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and traveled to Macedonia. While in Macedonia, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. Later on in his life, Aristotle returned to Athens and created a school of him own, Lyceum. When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C.E., Aristotle fled to Euboea to avoid charges and execution. He died shortly after in 322 B.C.E. (Aristotle Biography, 2015). Aristotle is seen as much more than just a great philosopher of his time. He practiced in ethics, biology, science, and much more (Chaffee, 2013, p. 250).
There are many people that contributed to the discovery of irrational numbers. Some of these people include Hippasus of Metapontum, Leonard Euler, Archimedes, and Phidias. Hippasus found the √2. Leonard Euler found the number e. Archimedes found Π. Phidias found the golden ratio. Hippasus found the first irrational number of √2. In the 5th century, he was trying to find the length of the sides of a pentagon. He successfully found the irrational number when he found the hypotenuse of an isosceles right triangle. He is thought to have found this magnificent finding at sea. However, his work is often discounted or not recognized because he was supposedly thrown overboard by fellow shipmates. His work contradicted the Pythagorean mathematics that was already in place. The fundamentals of the Pythagorean mathematics was that number and geometry were not able to be separated (Irrational Number, 2014).
The history of math has become an important study, from ancient to modern times it has been fundamental to advances in science, engineering, and philosophy. Mathematics started with counting. In Babylonia mathematics developed from 2000B.C. A place value notation system had evolved over a lengthy time with a number base of 60. Number problems were studied from at least 1700B.C. Systems of linear equations were studied in the context of solving number problems.