Pythagoras Theorem is may be the most known geometrical theorem among secondary school students. It is easy to remember this theorem even for many older. It says, let we have a triangle with a right angle, two lines (a – b) and hypotenuse ( C ), then square of c is equal to multiple of square of both a and b. Though it seems too basic for us it was the product of long term geometrical studies, which had begun in Egypt and went on in Greece and ended with Pythagoras.
What was the motivation lay behind of this study of Pythagoras?
Pythagoras was born in a Greek island Samos in 570 BC. He travelled to Egypt and Greece (may be India). At last he immigrated to Croton, a southern city state of Italy peninsula. There he influenced a lot of people and he gathered disciples around him. Many mythological stories and miracles that attributed to him were probably the consequence of this divine term. Later he lost his influence on his disciples and he was obliged to immigrate to another Italian Greek city Metapontum where he would die at his 75, in 495 BC.
Pythagorean order that influenced many people was another form of Orphism which was the reform of worship of Dionysus. It is good to narrate the origin of these religions.
Dionysus was the son of Zeus. He was killed by Titans who were sent by Hera. Than Zeus gave rebirth to Dionysus, it is not clear how did it whether from his own leg or by Semele's surrogacy. People who worship Dionysus, believed that their soul was trapped in their body and this world, by death and rebirth they were cycling. The only chance to reach divine experience was to lose their forethought. So they drank as it was attributed to Dionysus. It was ascetic religion, later it reformed into Orphism. In Pythagorean order again you can see mystical attributes rather than rational, it argued that the body is tomb of soul however we must not seek to escape. So all of materials around us are unnecessary things to look or investigate. The divine salvation could be reached by contemplation. This would be may be the most important break in history, the opposition of mysticism and rationality, or in other words empiricism and contemplation.
Pythagoras' method for contemplation was mathematics, since he believed everything are numbers. A man could understand the beyond of life and reach salvation by only mathematics. Mathematical knowledge appeared to be certain, exact, and applicable to the real world; moreover it was obtained by mere thinking, without the need of the basis of mathematics, that thought is superior to sense, intuition to observation. You can use geometrical axioms to reach a theorem by deductive method.
Bertrand Russell draws underline the importance of him as
“The combination of mathematics and theology, which began with Pythagoras, characterized religious philosophy in Greece, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times down to Kant. Orphism before Pythagoras was analogous to Asiatic mystery religions. But in Plato, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz there is an intimate blending of religion and reasoning, of moral aspiration with logical admiration of what is timeless, which comes from Pythagoras, and distinguishes the intellectualized theology of Europe from the more straightforward mysticism of Asia. It is only in quite recent times that it has been possible to say clearly where Pythagoras was wrong.”
The other notes about him are;
Pythagoras was the first person known to have taught the earth was spherical
He found incommensurable (irrational) numbers by his theorem.
The philosopher Pythagoras used the term cosmos (Ancient Greek: κόσμος) for the order of the universe,
He convinced Greek mathematicians that geometry must be established independently of aritmethic.
According to ancient Roman legends he was the teacher of Numma Pompilius who was the second king of Rome.
Pythagoras also used mathematics in music too.
He trusted in aristocracy, and argued that administrators should be appointed according to their qualifications. Both girls and boys should be trained and educated by state. (Of course these terms were in archaic means).
He was the son of Apollo. (Legend)
'There are men and gods, and beings like Pythagoras.' He said about himself.
Note: Though he was born in Samos, Croton was marked on map since his influence was started at there.
