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Phytagoras

Pythagoras was an important ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who founded a religious society in Italy. Little is known about his life and achievements as nothing was written by Pythagoras himself. He is believed to have been born on the island of Samos and traveled extensively, learning in Egypt and Babylon before returning to Samos to found a school. Due to issues in Samos, Pythagoras moved to Italy where he established an influential religious and philosophical society whose members lived communally and believed that numbers governed the universe. Pythagoras is most famous for his Pythagorean theorem in geometry.

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3K views

Phytagoras

Pythagoras was an important ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who founded a religious society in Italy. Little is known about his life and achievements as nothing was written by Pythagoras himself. He is believed to have been born on the island of Samos and traveled extensively, learning in Egypt and Babylon before returning to Samos to found a school. Due to issues in Samos, Pythagoras moved to Italy where he established an influential religious and philosophical society whose members lived communally and believed that numbers governed the universe. Pythagoras is most famous for his Pythagorean theorem in geometry.

Uploaded by

Vicky Gr
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Phytagoras

Phytagoras is often described as a very important mathematician, yet we know little about his achievements. Many Greek mathematicians wrote books about their work, but we have nothing written by Phytagoras. What we do know is that he was the leader of a society that was half scientific and half religious. It was a secret society and today Pythagoras is still a mysterious figure. We are not sure if this information we have about him is a fact or legend. We believe that Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos. His father was a merchant, and as a child, Pythagoras travelled with him selling their goods. We also know that Pythagoras was well educated. He learned music and poetry and had three philosophers to teach him. However he developed his interest in mathematics on his own. It is also said that it was Thales who advised Pythagoras to travel to Egypt to learn more about mathematics and astronomy. So, in 535 BC Pythagoras travelled to Egypt where he visited many temples and took part in discussions with priests. Many of the customs he learnt about there he later came to adopt. For example, the Egyptian priests refused to eat beans or wear animal skins, as did Pythagoras for the rest of his life. In 525 BC the King of Persia invaded Egypt. Pythagoras was taken prisoner and was transported to Babylon. It was here, taught by the Babylonian that he reached perfection in arithmetic and music. Two of them, Thales and Anaximander, introduced him to mathematics. However, what we do know is that in 520 BC he left Babylon and returned to Samos, his birthplace. In Samos, he founded a school which was called The Semi-circle. It seems that the people of Samos did not appreciate the teaching methods of Pythagoras and they treated him rudely and improperly. Furthermore, they tried to involve Pythagoras in local politics against his will. For these reasons he decided to go to Italy. Pythagoras knew that all the philosophers before him had ended their days in a foreign country. So it was in Italy he founded a religious and philosophical society. The members were called mathematikoi, they had no personal possessions and were vegetarians. This society contributed a great deal to the understanding mathematics. Pythagoras believed that numbers rule the universe and that numbers are present in all things. He also connected mathematics to music and recognised the healing power of music. He used it as a kind of therapy to help those who were ill. Another of his beliefs was that there are three types of men; those who love wisdom, those who love honour and those who love gain. Pythagoras is believed to have died in the ancient town of Metapontum at around the age of ninety years old. He left behind an extraordinary legacy as a mathematician, an astronomer and a philosopher. Today we remember him best for his famous geometry theorem, known as the Pythagorean theorem.

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