MGF 1106 Module 3 Mathematicians
When and where was Euclid born?
Born: 323? BC in Egypt
When and where was Pythagoras born?
Born: c. 570 BC in Greece, Samos
When and where did Euclid die?
Died: 283? BC in Alexandria, Egypt
When and where was Pythagoras die?
Died: c. 490 BC in Metapontum, Italy
What nationality was Euclid?
Greek
What nationality was Pythagoras (pronounced puh-THAG-uh-rus)?
Greek
What can you tell us about Pythagoras' Education?
He became a pupil of the great Greek geometer, astronomer, and philosopher Thales of Miletus.
What contributions did Pythagoras make to mathematics?
He established the Pythagorean society. His followers called themselves mathematikoi. They believed that mathematics was at the heart of reality, and that symbols possessed a mystical significance that drew the human closer to the divine. The Pythagoreans lived communally, practiced vegetarianism, and practiced vows of secrecy and loyalty. A significant contribution made by Pythagoras was his treatment of number as an abstract entity separable from all specifics. Perhaps for the first time, 2 was just two--not two pebbles or two horses or two ships. He is given credit for the Pythagorean Theorem. Pythagoras discovered that an instrument's strings would produce harmony when the ratio of the string lengths was a whole number Pythagoras also invented the terms "odd" and "even." He explained that odd numbers were male, and even numbers were female. Odd (male) numbers were also considered divine and lucky, and even (female) numbers were of the Earth and therefore unlucky.
What contributions did Euclid make to mathematics?
He wrote wrote the Elements, a collection of geometrical theorems (active 300 BC).
What can you tell us about Pythagoras' Life?
The son of Mnesarchus, a merchant from Tyre (now in Lebanon), and his wife Pythias. He grew up in Samos, Ionia, on what is now the western part of Turkey. His father's profession gave him reason to travel widely, and apparently the boy accompanied him on trips as far away as Italy.
