Pythagoras' Theorem

Pythagoras was a mathematician who lived over 2000 years ago in Greece. His exact date of birth is not known but it’s thought that he was born around 580 BC and died around 500 BC.

He also founded a religious movement called Pythagoreanism which had many followers. Pythagoreans believed that many things in life could be explained by mathematics.

Pythagoras is best known for proving the Pythagorean Theorem, as it is known in the US, or Pythagoras Theorem in the UK, which has been used by scientists, students, mathematicians and engineers in their daily lives ever since. Many things which we take for granted nowadays would not be possible if it was not for Pythagoras Theorem.

The Pythagorean Theorem was one of the earliest theorems known to ancient civilizations. This famous theorem is named for the Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras. Pythagoras founded the Pythagorean School of Mathematics in Cortona, a Greek seaport in Southern Italy. He is credited with many contributions to mathematics although some of them may have actually been the work of his students.

The Pythagorean Theorem is Pythagoras' most famous mathematical contribution. According to legend, Pythagoras was so happy when he discovered the theorem that he offered a sacrifice of oxen. The later discovery that the square root of 2 is irrational and therefore, cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers, greatly troubled Pythagoras and his followers. They were devout in their belief that any two lengths were integral multiples of some unit length. Many attempts were made to suppress the knowledge that the square root of 2 is irrational. It is even said that the man who divulged the secret was drowned at sea.

The Pythagorean Theorem is a statement about triangles containing a right angle. The Pythagorean Theorem states that:

"The area of the square built upon the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares upon the remaining sides."