Pythagoras Essay, Research Paper

Pythagoras

Pythagoras was a very significant person in the history of the world.

He made many contributions to the fields of math, music, and astronomy.

Pythagoras’s teachings and beliefs that were once taught by him in his own

school in ancient Greece, are still taught today.

The thing that Pythagoras is probably the most famous for is the

Pythagorean Theorem. The Pythagorean Theorem is used in the field of

mathematics and it states the following: the square of the hypotenuse of a

right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides. This

means that if one makes a square (with all sides equal in length) out of a

triangle with a right angle, the areas of the squares made from the two shorter

sides, when added together, equal the area of the square made from the long

side. Another geometrical discovery made by Pythagoras is that the diagonal of

a square is not a rational multiple of its side. The latter discovery proved

the existence of irrational numbers and therefore changed the entire Greek

mathematical belief that whole numbers and their ratios could account for

geometrical properties.

Another contribution of Pythagoras and his follower is that of music.

Pythagoras essentially created music in that he discovered the way it works.

Pythagoras noticed that vibrating strings produce harmonious tones when the

ratios of the lengths of the strings are whole numbers. After making this

discovery, he found that these same ratios could be extended further to other

instruments.

Pythagoras was one of the first to teach that the Earth was at the

center of the universe. He was also one of the first to teach that the world

was round, an idea not to be proven for almost another one thousand years.

Pythagoras also discovered that the orbit of the moon is inclined to the equator

of the Earth. He also was the first person to make the connection that Venus as

the evening star is the same as Venus the morning star.

So, in conclusion, Pythagoras made many contributions to modern

society. Thus, making him recognizable as a formidable scientist and

mathematician even today. Pythagoras will always be a significant person in

history, because of the discoveries made by him, his students in ancient

Greece, and the ever growing amount of people studying his teachings today and

who will continue to learn and follow his lessons until the end of time.