Pythagoras Research Paper

For my research paper I chose to write about Pythagoras. I decided to choose Pythagoras because the Pythagorean theorem is one of the most used formulas in all of math, and I wanted to see who came up with the idea and get a little more information about the subject.

Pythagoras was born in 571 BC in Samos, Greece. He started out as a Greek philosopher and mathematician and is known as the first pure mathematician. Just like Jesus he was said to have many disciples who would follow him around wherever he went, learning from him and his teachings. Pythagoras was a very important figure in mathematics, astronomy, musical theory, and in the world’s history. Pythagoras traveled to an area known today as the southern coast of Italy. The area

is known as a philosophical, political, and religious society whose residents believed that the world could be explained using mathematics and that whole numbers could solve universal problems. In this part of Italy they had the Motto “all is number” which I see as everything has a mathematical solution. Whether related to math or not they believed that numbers could solve any mystery in the world.
Mathematics was first believed to be used by Pythagoreans. When Pythagoras was between eighteen and twenty years old, he traveled to Miletus to visit Thales who was a great philosopher. By the time Pythagoras visited him, he was an old man and probably couldn’t teach him much. Pythagoreans believed that our reality is mathematical and that philosophy was used for spiritual purification. Pythagoras died sometime in 495 BC from Metapontum.
In his early life Pythagoras was said to be a disciple of Soches who was an Egyptian archprophet. As well he was said to be a mentor to Plato who was a brilliant philosopher and helped lay the foundation for western philosophy and science. Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus who was a gem engraver or a merchant. His mother was named Pythais and she was a native of Samos. Even though Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, he would often travel to Egypt, Greece and India. He ended up returning to Samos in 520 BC. In about 530 BC he moved to Croton in Magna Graecia, where he was said have created some sort of school. At some point in his life Pythagoras also traveled to Crete to study systems of law.
Pythagoras was known for his many accomplishments, but the greatest one that he is known for is the Pythagorean theorem.

Many of his accomplishments may have actually been accomplished through his students and disciples that he worked with as a mentor. One of his greatest students was Plato who would later become a very important philosopher in western history.

Neoplatonist’s writers who could provide the most details about his life often told the history of Pythagoras. There were many myths created about Pythagoras such as his father was Apollo, who also happened to be another great philosopher, that he gleamed with sort of a supernatural brightness, that he was born with a golden thigh, that Abaris came to him flying on a golden arrow and that he had been reported being seen in many places at a time. These myths were created because Pythagoras lived so long ago that no one could really tell for sure if these things were true.

In Pythagoras’ family life he was married to Theano and together they had a son, Telauges and three daughters, Damo, Arignote, and Myia, who married Milo of Croton. Milo was said to be a follower of Pythagoras. One of the things that “Pythagoras taught about was that the sun is a moveable sphere in the center of the universe that all other planets circle around”. Most of the people on earth at the time had thought that everything revolved around the earth so to hear otherwise was something that they found foolish and

impossible.
Pythagoras was mostly known for coming up with the Pythagorean theorem which is a theorem used in geometry that states that in a right triangle the area of the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides. And so began the popular formula a2 + b2 = c2. This formula is most commonly used to find the missing side of a right triangle. Pythagoras and his students were also said to have come up with the first proof. However there is no proof that Pythagoras worked on this formula himself. It is possible that his students in his school were taught to accredit their teacher because he was the one who taught them, but it is still unclear what the real truth is. That being said there is really no proof that he had anything to do with any of the formulas that he was accredited for discovering. The very first mention of his name to a theorem came nearly five centuries after his death in writings by Plutarch and Cicero.
Parts of Pythagoras’ studies were revolved around properties of numbers, which are still used today like evens and odds, triangular numbers and perfect numbers. His school practiced secrecy and communalism, which made it harder to tell the difference between his work and the work of his followers. The Pythagorean society was a rare one because it allowed both men and women to become associated with it. In his home city of Samos, Pythagoras built a school called the “Semicircle” of Pythagoras, which is known by that name even today.
Pythagoras had also created a philosophical and religious school in Croton that had many followers. He was the head of their society with an inner circle of followers who were known as “mathematikoi”. These citizens were permanent members of the society and could have no personal possessions and had to be vegetarian. The people in this society looked at numerical properties as masculine or feminine, perfect and imperfect and other opposites like those. At one of his schools his students would study “the golden ratio” which is a numerical relationship that Pythagoreans believe is truly beautiful and often pops up in nature and art.
Even though Pythagoras isn’t alive today, it sort of feels like he is because of all the math formulas that are still being taught around the world. The Pythagorean theorem is one of the most commonly used formulas in math and is commonly used by many in real world applications. Every student seems to have learned it at some point in their lives and it is also one of the easiest formulas to remember. I feel like forty years from now when I have been out of school for a while I will still be able to remember the Pythagorean Theorem.
Pythagoras was also very interested in art and had a great impact on the art we have today. A lot of the work that we do today uses some sort of triangles that Pythagoras was famous for studying and then bringing into the math world. Without him measuring distances would be a lot harder and we may not have the same buildings that we have today. He also discovered the connection between math and music, which explains why some notes sound harmonious together, and others do not.
During my research I found out many interesting things about Pythagoras.

One thing that I found interesting about him is that he lived a very long time ago. I had not realized how long ago he lived until I started to research him. Its amazing that his math formulas have stayed relevant for thousands of years and no one has been able to prove them wrong or has changed them in any way. I also found it interesting that he traveled all over the world in a time when world travel was not easy. He visited many different places such as Greece, Italy, Croton, and Somas. It seems like everywhere he went he made new followers and new disciples, and those followers became part of a society called Pythagoreans. I also found it interesting that Pythagoras was very much against any type of politics. His society in Croton was actually very much affected by the political events happening in the city. A fact that I found was fun was that he built many schools in Europe and some of them are still standing today. That means that they have survived thousands of

years.
I did find it a little strange that we know very little about Pythagoras even though he was very influential in his time period. I do find it very sad that people are starting to take his findings away from him saying that there is no proof that he had anything to do with these findings. The saddest part is we will never know the truth about who he was and what he actually accomplished in his time on earth.