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Pythagoras of Samos
(The school of Athens, Raphael)
EARLY LIFE Pythagoras wrote nothing, nor in Samos and died c. 500–490 BCE were there any detailed accounts in Italy. He was a Greek of his thought written by philosopher, mathematician, and contemporaries. founder of the Pythagorean Most of the information available brotherhood that, although today has been recorded a few religious in nature, formulated centuries after his death and as a principles that influenced the result, many of the available thought of Plato and Aristotle and accounts contradict each other. contributed to the development However, this much is certain that of mathematics and Western he was born to a merchant from rational philosophy. Tyre and had studied under various teachers since his early childhood.
ď‚— Pythagoras, was born c. 570 BCE
The Pythagorian school
When he was around forty years old, he left Samos. Some say he went to Egypt to study under the temple priests and returned after fifteen years while others say that he went straight to Croton(southern Italy) to open a school. Nonetheless, it is certain that his main place of activity was Croton and there he set up a brotherhood and made substantial contribution to mathematics, philosophy and music.
The Pythagorian school In Croton he first started teaching in full scale,
quickly gathering a band of followers. His brotherhood was open to both men and women. It developed into a religious cum, philosophical school with considerable political clout. The Pythagoreans, as the followers of Pythagoras were called, could be divided into two sects. Mathematikoi or Learners, who lived and worked at the school
Akousmaticoi or Listeners, who lived outside the school
The Mathematikoi or Learners had to lead their life according to rules, which defined what they ate, wore or even spoke. They had no personal possession and followed strict vegetarianism
Contrarily, the Akousmatics or Listners were allowed to own personal properties and eat nonvegetarian food. They attended the school only during the day time.
Their everyday life
The Pythagoreans had to be silent and obedient, dress simply, eat very little - not meat and not beans, which they thought were relatives to the humans, and subject themselves to self-examination
Also, they were not allowed to wear rings, stir fire with iron or speak of Pyhagorean matters in the dark.
When rising from their beds they had to erase any impressions of their bodies on the bed clothes to avert the evil eye
Pythagoras and Philosophy • He believed in the theory of metempsychosis or the transmigration of the soul and its reincarnation again and again after death into the bodies of humans, animals or vegetables until it became moral
• He was one of the first to propose that the thought processes and the soul were located in the brain and not the heart.
• One of his central beliefs was that the essence of being can be found in the form of numbers, and that it can be encountered through the study of mathematics. For instance, he believed that things like health relied on a stable proportion of elements, with too much or too little of one thing causing an imbalance that makes a person unhealthy.
Pythagoras and Astronomy ď‚— He was the first to consider the Earth as a sphere revolving
with the other planets and the Sun around a universal "central fire." Ten planets were believed to exist in order to produce the "magical" number of 10. This arrangement was explained as the harmonious arrangement of bodies in a complete sphere of reality based on a numerical pattern, calling it a "harmony of sphere." The Pythagoreans also recognized that the orbit of the Moon was inclined to the equator of the Earth, and were one of the first to accept that Venus was both the evening star and the morning star.
Pythagoras and Music
He discovered that the tones in music are relative to the length of the strings and that producing different notes in harmony happened because of mathematical ratios.
Pythagora’s and Numbers Pythagoras’ contribution to mathematics can never be overstated.
Today, he is best remembered for his concept of numbers. He believed that everything could be reduced to numbers and these numbers had their own characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. For example: 1 generator of all numbers, 2 opinion, 3 harmony, 4 justice, 5 marriage, 6 creation, 7 the seven planets The holiest number of all was ten, a triangular number composed of the
sum of one, two, three and four.
The Pythagorean Tetractys
It states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides(legs). The theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of the sides a, b and c, often called the "Pythagorean equation": a2 + b2 = c2 where c represents the length of the hypotenuse and a and b the lengths of the triangle's other two sides.
The Pythagorean Theorem
Example
A bit more about the Theorem ď‚— What Pythagoras and his followers did not realize is that this also works
for any shape: thus, the area of a pentagon on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the pentagons on the other two sides, as it does for a semicircle or any other regular (or even irregular shape.) ď‚— He is said to have started dealing with this theorem when visiting the
pyramids as a youth, and when he had worked it out he thanked the gods, sacrificing a hundred oxen.
Thank you for your attention.
THE GREAT SCIENCE TO LIVE HAPPILY IS TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT -PYTHAGORAS-
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