The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-year HistoryBy any measure, the Pythagorean theorem is the most famous statement in all of mathematics, one remembered from high school geometry class by even the most math-phobic students. Well over four hundred proofs are known to exist, including ones by a twelve-year-old Einstein, a young blind girl, Leonardo da Vinci, and a future president of the United States. Here--perhaps for the first time in English--is the full story of this famous theorem. Although attributed to Pythagoras, the theorem was known to the Babylonians more than a thousand years before him. He may have been the first to prove it, but his proof--if indeed he had one--is lost to us. Euclid immortalized it as Proposition 47 in his Elements, and it is from there that it has passed down to generations of students. The theorem is central to almost every branch of science, pure or applied. It has even been proposed as a means to communicate with extraterrestrial beings, if and when we discover them. And, expanded to four-dimensional space-time, it plays a pivotal role in Einstein's theory of relativity. In this book, Eli Maor brings to life many of the characters that played a role in the development of the Pythagorean theorem, providing a fascinating backdrop to perhaps our oldest enduring mathematical legacy. |
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... space - time , it plays a pivotal role in Einstein's theory of relativity . In this book , Eli Maor brings to life many of the characters that played a role in the development of the Pythago- rean theorem , providing a fascinating ...
... and Variations 123 Sidebar 7 : A Pythagorean Curiosity 140 Sidebar 8 : A Case of Overuse 142 10 Strange Coordinates 145 11 Notation , Notation , Notation 158 94 45 2 2 8 50 82 12 From Flat Space to Curved Spacetime Sidebar 9 :
A 4,000-year History Eli Maor. 12 From Flat Space to Curved Spacetime Sidebar 9 : A Case of Misuse 168 177 13 Prelude to Relativity 181 14 From Bern to Berlin , 1905-1915 188 Sidebar 10 : Four Pythagorean Brainteasers 197 15 But Is It ...
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Analytic Hyperbolic Geometry and Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity Abraham A. Ungar No preview available - 2008 |