Pythagorean Theorem Essay

The History of the Pythagorean Theorem

The Pythagorean Theorem is a named after a Greek mathematician and philosopher,

named Pythagoras, but is he really the one who discovered the theorem? It?s kind of like the

Crossover Dribble in basketball. Most people attribute the move to Allen Iverson, but when you

look into the history of the crossover some say it began in a street basketball game by a guy

named Richard Kirkland, some attribute it to Oscar Robertson in the 60?s, but it was definitely

Allen Iverson who popularized the double crossover. Pythagoras popularized the theorem, but

when you study the history you discover the theory existed before Pythagoras? was even born.

The Pythagorean Theorem says 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, a2?+ b2?= c2. Integers that satisfy the conditions a2?+ b2?= c2?are called
?Pythagorean triples.?" Well, a discovery of an ancient clay tablet from
Babylonia was found that contains columns of numbers that have been
interpreted as Pythagorean triples!

And these tablets are believed to date

about 1000 years before Pythagoras. And the Babylonians are not the

only ones!According to Eric McCullough & Brian Deitz the Egyptians

knew that a triangle with sides 3, 4, and 5 make a 90 degrees angle, and

they also used a rope with 12 evenly spaced knots that they used to build

perfect corners in their buildings and pyramids. In another article, titled The History of the

Pythagorean Theorem, ancient Indian mathematicians also knew the Pythagorean theorem, and it

is discussed in the?Sulbasutras?(of which the earliest date from ca. 800-600 B.C.). Also,

according to the article, some believe that the ancient Mayas used variations of Pythagorean

triples in their?Long Count?calendar. But perhaps the most interesting of all is the Chou-Pei

Proof.

Mathematicians Eric McCullough & Brian Deitz state that the Chou Pei presents the

oldest known proof of the right-angle triangle theory in the hsuan-thu

diagram. The principles were reflected in the popular approach known as

chi-chu, or "the piling up of squares" which was how they used

geometry to solve algebraic problems. And that is sort of what we

are
doing with similarity of triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. We use
the pythagorean theory to find the legs of a right triangle. Next we draw a
line that intersects at the right angle. Now we have 3 triangles. 2
triangles are similar because they have right angles, and they have one
common angle. Sonow we can set up a ratio for the two triangles. That
results in . Then we set up a porportionfor the other triangle and it will
solve for. Plug it all in and solve. Or at least that?s what I got from the video.

I don?t think that Pythagoras should get all the credit for the theorem, because it already
existed. I really wish it wasn?t named after him, because his name is hard to pronounce! I like
talking about the crossover in basketball in more, because I understand it, but learning about how
the Pythagorean Theorem came to be was interesting, but learning about using it for triangle
similarity was confusing!

http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6680Su06/Deitz/Geometry%20Presentation/Geometrypresentat
ion.html Geometry Presentation by Eric McCullough & Brian Deitz
http://ualr.edu/lasmoller/pythag.html The History of the Pythagorean Theorem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_dribble
http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/convergence/review-of-the-babylonian-theorem