Summary:
Pythagoras is known as one of the world's first pure mathematicians. He is also considered one of the founding fathers of Geometry and was the inventor of the Pythagorean Theroem. Pythagoras believed that all relations could be reduced to number relations.
Pythagoras is known as one of the world's first pure mathematicians. He is also considered one of the founding fathers of Geometry.
Pythagoras of Samos was born sometime around 569 BC. The society in which Pythagoras lived in was divided between religion, and science. His society believed in a code of secrecy, which makes Pythagoras a mysterious person. There is not large amount accurate information on Pythagoras' life but the information that does exist on the life of Pythagoras is written by authors who make him out to be a god or powerful man. Pythagoras' father was the merchant Mnesarchus who came from Tyre. His mother was Pythais a native of Samos. They met when Mnesarchus had brought corn to Samos during famine. Pythagoras returned to Tyre with his father and studied with the Chaldeans and learned men of Syria.
There is little information on Pythagoras's life as a child. Pythagoras' physical appearance is unknown but a description of a birthmark on his thigh. Pythagoras has two brothers some sources say three. He was well educated learning to play the lyre, a flute-like instrument, learning poetry and to recite Homer.
There were many philosophers who influenced Pythagoras while he was a young man, but the biggest influence of all was Pherekydes the teacher of Pythagoras. Two other men introduced Pythagoras to mathematical ideas and their names are Thales and Anaximander who lived on Miletus. Thales taught Pythagoras when he was 20 by that time Thales was an old man.
He made a strong impression on Pythagoras and did not teach him much but advised him to travel to Egypt to learn more about mathematics and astronomy. Anaximander lectured on Miletus and Pytagoras attended the lectures. Anaximander's lecture influenced Pythagoras's views later on.
In 535 B.C Pythagoras went to Egypt. He made his journey a few years after the tyrant Polycrates seized control of Samos. He and Polycrates were friendly during this time. Egypt suggested that Pythagoras visit the temples and take part in discussions with the priests. Pythagoras was refused admission to all the temples except one at Diospolis where he was accepted into the priesthood after completing the rites necessary. Pythagoras learned Geometry from the Egyptians but he was already aquainted with it from prior study. In 525 BC Cambyses II the king of Persia, invaded Egypt. After winning a battle that occurred at the Nile Delta He captured Heliopolis and Memphis, the Egyptian forces fell and Pythagoras was taken prisoner and taken to Babylon. While he was there he became associated with the Magoi people he was instructed in their sacred rites and learned about a very mystical worship of the gods. He reached perfection in arithmetic and music and other mathematical sciences taught by Babylonians. In 520 BC Pythagoras left Babylon and went back to Samos. Polycrates had been killed in about 522 BC and Cambyses died in the summer of 522 BC either by committing suicide. Pythagoras's freedom is never explained so their death may have something to do with it. Pythagoras made a journey to Crete shortly after his return to study the system of laws there. When he retuned to Samos he founded a school and named it semicircle. After he finished that project he made a cave outside the city a private site of his philosophical teaching. He spends most of the night and day finding the uses of mathematics. In 518 BC Pythagoras left Samos and went to southern Italy. There he founded a philosophical and religious school in Croton, which had many followers. The name of the societies inner circle was mathematikoi. The outer circle was called akousmatics. Pythagoras and the mathematikoi did not study mathematics with open problems but rather studied math for what it is and the concept of it.
Pythagoras believed that all relations could be reduced to number relations. Pythagoras made many contributions to the mathematical theory of music. He used music as a means to help those who were ill. He studied properties of numbers like odd numbers, even numbers, triangular numbers, and perfect numbers. He believed that he number had its own personality male or female, perfect or incomplete. In his view of math ten was the best number because it contained four integers (1+2+3+4=10) and written in dot formation make the perfect triangle. This theory is known as the Pythagorean theorem.
The Pythagorean theorem may be named after Pythagoras but he may not be the first to prove it may be the Babylonians proved it 1000 years before him.
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