Math was a big part of our history and is still a big part of our culture today. What these famous mathematicians founded back long ago are things we still use today and things that if they hadn’t been founded then math could be completely different. What these guys have found has helped us be able to use things like theorems or equations to solve different aspects of math in today’s world. So far in class we have talked about the Greek mathematicians. These include Euclid, Thales, Pythagoras, and Archimedes. They all did multiple things to contribute to our math world today but I will talk about a few big things they have done for us and why they are so important.
First we will talk about Euclid. The big thing Euclid did for math was he came up and proved many propositions to help us be able to say certain things about numbers, lines, and shapes. Also these propositions or theorems are things we can use to be able to prove other theorems. They build off of each other and without this foundation of propositions it would make a mathematicians life a lot harder because they would have to re prove everything instead of just using these propositions that have already been proven true. In class we looked at some of this propositions. Back when he wrote them their language was much different with how they worded things so reading and really understanding what each proposition is saying is a job in its self. During class we got to look at them and word them so that they made more sense to us!
Next we will talk about Thales. Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. There is such a thing called the Thales theorem, which allowed us to prove and say something about triangles inside of a circle that goes through the diameter of the circle. He has been known as the first true mathematician. He later proved other foundational results to help us be able to conclude about things in geometry. Such as; a circle is bisected by any of its diameters, the angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal, when two straight lines cut each other the vertically opposite angles are equal, and two triangles are equal in all respects is they have two angles and one side respectively equal. Without these foundations it would make geometry harder for us to prove the bigger picture theorems. These foundations allow us to use them when proving theorems. Once again without these our life with proving theorems would be that much harder.
Now we will talk about Pythagoras. The big thing Pythagoras did in math is something I’m sure everyone has herd about, the Pythagorean theorem. Being able to use this in math allowed us to be able to find side lengths of a right triangle with the equation. Without the creation of the Pythagorean theorem finding side length would have to deal with using things like squares to find each side length like Pythagoras had to in order to create and prove this theorem. It would be a much longer process. In class we got to look up and pick out facts about Pythagoras. There were many funny things true and untrue about him on the Internet. Our class found things like; his followers didn’t eat bean, he sacrificed 100 oxen to prove this theorem, his follower’s motto was all is a number, and that he could fly. I’m sure you could guess what ones were fictions and which were not. I know that the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem has helped me through many math classes.
Lastly we will talk about Archimedes. Archimedes is said to be one of the greatest geniuses our species has produced. He is known for the relationship he discovered and proved between the volume of a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder. Without this prove we obviously wouldn’t have the relationship between the two or the prove that goes with it. We looked at this prove in class and let me tell you what. This man was a genius. The things he did still makes me confused. It’s a hard prove to follow but once you break it down it starts to make sense. How he came up with these things is beyond me and incredible. Even just looking at his diagram you get lost. There are triangles, circles, and spheres all over. In order for him to prove this, his knowledge of circles and triangles must have been like the back of his hand to him. He was a very smart man and helped out the math world in many ways.
Overall these four guys we have talked about in class so far I think are all geniuses. Without these guys and the things they have accomplished math could be very different or someone else could have discovered these things but we will never know. We also don’t know what else is out there that is just waiting to be discovered. These discoveries let us conclude different things in math. Also they allowed us to use these discoveries to show and prove other theorems. I think everyone now a day is happy someone discovered these things to make our math life a little easier and definitely more fun. Being able to use other theorems is like a big puzzle and we have to find the pieces that go together to give us what we want. It was amazing being able to learn more about these four guys and I cant wait to see who else we get to learn about in this class.
First we will talk about Euclid. The big thing Euclid did for math was he came up and proved many propositions to help us be able to say certain things about numbers, lines, and shapes. Also these propositions or theorems are things we can use to be able to prove other theorems. They build off of each other and without this foundation of propositions it would make a mathematicians life a lot harder because they would have to re prove everything instead of just using these propositions that have already been proven true. In class we looked at some of this propositions. Back when he wrote them their language was much different with how they worded things so reading and really understanding what each proposition is saying is a job in its self. During class we got to look at them and word them so that they made more sense to us!
Next we will talk about Thales. Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. There is such a thing called the Thales theorem, which allowed us to prove and say something about triangles inside of a circle that goes through the diameter of the circle. He has been known as the first true mathematician. He later proved other foundational results to help us be able to conclude about things in geometry. Such as; a circle is bisected by any of its diameters, the angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal, when two straight lines cut each other the vertically opposite angles are equal, and two triangles are equal in all respects is they have two angles and one side respectively equal. Without these foundations it would make geometry harder for us to prove the bigger picture theorems. These foundations allow us to use them when proving theorems. Once again without these our life with proving theorems would be that much harder.
Now we will talk about Pythagoras. The big thing Pythagoras did in math is something I’m sure everyone has herd about, the Pythagorean theorem. Being able to use this in math allowed us to be able to find side lengths of a right triangle with the equation. Without the creation of the Pythagorean theorem finding side length would have to deal with using things like squares to find each side length like Pythagoras had to in order to create and prove this theorem. It would be a much longer process. In class we got to look up and pick out facts about Pythagoras. There were many funny things true and untrue about him on the Internet. Our class found things like; his followers didn’t eat bean, he sacrificed 100 oxen to prove this theorem, his follower’s motto was all is a number, and that he could fly. I’m sure you could guess what ones were fictions and which were not. I know that the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem has helped me through many math classes.
Lastly we will talk about Archimedes. Archimedes is said to be one of the greatest geniuses our species has produced. He is known for the relationship he discovered and proved between the volume of a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder. Without this prove we obviously wouldn’t have the relationship between the two or the prove that goes with it. We looked at this prove in class and let me tell you what. This man was a genius. The things he did still makes me confused. It’s a hard prove to follow but once you break it down it starts to make sense. How he came up with these things is beyond me and incredible. Even just looking at his diagram you get lost. There are triangles, circles, and spheres all over. In order for him to prove this, his knowledge of circles and triangles must have been like the back of his hand to him. He was a very smart man and helped out the math world in many ways.
Overall these four guys we have talked about in class so far I think are all geniuses. Without these guys and the things they have accomplished math could be very different or someone else could have discovered these things but we will never know. We also don’t know what else is out there that is just waiting to be discovered. These discoveries let us conclude different things in math. Also they allowed us to use these discoveries to show and prove other theorems. I think everyone now a day is happy someone discovered these things to make our math life a little easier and definitely more fun. Being able to use other theorems is like a big puzzle and we have to find the pieces that go together to give us what we want. It was amazing being able to learn more about these four guys and I cant wait to see who else we get to learn about in this class.