Pythagoras Essay, Research Paper

In 580 B.C. there lived a man who is know for creating one the best known theorems ever. His name was Pythagoras and the theorem, the Pythagorean Theorem. This Theorem states that the sum of the squares of the two legs of a right triangle equals the hypotenuse squared. This theorem as you can see can be very useful for finding the lengths of a right triangle. Now over the last two millennium there have been many proofs for this theorem, in fact hundreds.

One of the most the famous proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem is Euclid’s proof. Euclid was a great Greek mathematician who is know for his advances for the study of geometry and is often called the father of geometry. His book the Elements, a book on elementary geometry, was written 2,200 years ago and until 1903 was used as a textbook.

Euclid proof used the square of each side and a few diagonals. And then proved the triangles that are created equal to the square of the other sides.

Even the United States own President Garfield created his own proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. Garfield was very skilled man. Born in a log cabin in 1831. Garfield made a trapezoid with three right triangles. And by finding the area of the trapezoid with the equation A =[ h (b+ + bX )] / 2.

These’s are just two of the hundreds the proofs out there. There are many more.

REFERENCES

History of Math, copyright 1996, by Key Curriculum Press p 143.

The World Book Encyclopedia, copyright 1988, USA by World Book, Inc.