Download or read book The Cult of Pythagoras written by Alberto A. Martinez and published by . This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Martínez discusses various popular myths from the history of mathematics. Some stories are partly true, others are entirely false, but all show the power of invention in history. Martínez inspects a wealth of primary sources, in several languages, over a span of many centuries. By exploring disagreements and ambiguities in the history of the elements of mathematics, The Cult of Pythagoras dispels myths that obscure the actual origins of mathematical concepts. Chosen as a major selection by Scientific American Book Club (Library of Science(R))
Download or read book Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans written by Charles H. Kahn and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2001-09-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating portrait of the Pythagorean tradition, including a substantial account of the Neo-Pythagorean revival, and ending with Johannes Kepler on the threshold of modernism.
Download or read book The Cult of Pythagoras written by Alberto A. Martinez and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this follow-up to his popular Science Secrets, Alberto A. Martinez discusses various popular myths from the history of mathematics: that Pythagoras proved the hypotenuse theorem, that Archimedes figured out how to test the purity of a gold crown while he was in a bathtub, that the Golden Ratio is in nature and ancient architecture, that the young Galois created group theory the night before the pistol duel that killed him, and more. Some stories are partly true, others are entirely false, but all show the power of invention in history. Pythagoras emerges as a symbol of the urge to conjecture and "fill in the gaps" of history. He has been credited with fundamental discoveries in mathematics and the sciences, yet there is nearly no evidence that he really contributed anything to such fields at all. This book asks: how does history change when we subtract the many small exaggerations and interpolations that writers have added for over two thousand years? The Cult of Pythagoras is also about invention in a positive sense. Most people view mathematical breakthroughs as "discoveries" rather than invention or creativity, believing that mathematics describes a realm of eternal ideas. But mathematicians have disagreed about what is possible and impossible, about what counts as a proof, and even about the results of certain operations. Was there ever invention in the history of concepts such as zero, negative numbers, imaginary numbers, quaternions, infinity, and infinitesimals? Martinez inspects a wealth of primary sources, in several languages, over a span of many centuries. By exploring disagreements and ambiguities in the history of the elements of mathematics, The Cult of Pythagoras dispels myths that obscure the actual origins of mathematical concepts. Martinez argues that an accurate history that analyzes myths reveals neglected aspects of mathematics that can encourage creativity in students and mathematicians.
Download or read book Pythagoras written by Christoph Riedweg and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most important mathematical theorems is named after Pythagoras of Samos, but this semi-mythical Greek sage has more to offer than formulas. He is said to have discovered the numerical nature of the basic consonances and transposed the musical proportions to the cosmos, postulating a "harmony of the spheres." He may have coined the words "cosmos" and "philosophy." He is also believed to have taught the doctrine of transmigration of souls and therefore to have advised a vegetarian diet. Ancient legends have Pythagoras conversing with dogs, bears, and bulls. A distinctly Pythagorean way of life, including detailed ritual regulations, was observed by his disciples, who were organized as a secret society. Later, Pythagorean and Platonic teachings became fused. In this Platonized form, Pythagoreanism has remained influential through medieval Christianity and the Renaissance down to the present. Christoph Riedweg's book is an engaging introduction to the fundamental contributions of Pythagoras to the establishment of European culture. To penetrate the intricate maze of lore and ascertain what history can tell us about the philosopher, Riedweg not only examines the written record but also considers Pythagoras within the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual context of his times. The result is a vivid overview of the life and teachings of a crucial Greek thinker and his most important followers.
Download or read book Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism written by Walter Burkert and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1972 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For this first English edition of his distinguished study of Pythagoreanism, Weisheit und Wissenschajt: Studien zu Pythagoras, Philolaos, und Platon, Walter Burkert has carefully revised text and notes, taking account of additional literature on the subject which appeared between 1962 and 1969. By a thorough critical sifting of all the available evidence, the author lays a new foundation for the understanding of ancient Pythagoreanism and in particular of the relationship within it of "lore" and "science." He shows that in the twilight zone when the Greeks were discovering the rational interpretation of the world and quantitative natural science, Pythagoras represented not the origin of the new, but the survival or revival of ancient, pre-scientific lore or wisdom, based on superhuman authority and expressed in ritual obligation.
Download or read book The Music of Pythagoras written by Kitty Ferguson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-01-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enthralling story of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, whose insights transformed the ancient world and still inspire the realms of science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. "Pythagoras's influence on the ideas, and therefore on the destiny, of the human race was probably greater than that of any single man before or after him," wrote Arthur Koestler. Though most people know of him only for the famous Pythagorean Theorem (a2 +b2=c2), in fact the pillars of our scientific tradition-belief that the universe is rational, that there is unity to all things, and that numbers and mathematics are a powerful guide to truth about nature and the cosmos-hark back to the convictions of this legendary sixth-century B.C. scholar. Born around 570 B.C. on the cultured Aegean island of Samos, Pythagoras (according to ancient tales) studied with the sage Thales nearby at Miletus, and with priests and scribes in Egypt and Babylon. Eventually he founded his own school at Croton in southern Italy, where he and his followers began to unravel the surprising deep truths concealed behind such ordinary tasks as tuning a lyre. While considering why some string lengths produced beautiful sounds and others discordant ones, they uncovered the ratios of musical harmony, and recognized that hidden behind the confusion and complexity of nature are patterns and orderly relationships. They had surprised the Creator at his drafting board and had glimpsed the mind of God! Some of them later would also find something darker in numbers and nature: irrationality, a revelation so unsettling and subversive that it may have contributed to the destruction of their brotherhood.
Download or read book Pythagorean Women written by Sarah B. Pomeroy and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Abbreviations -- Chronology -- Introduction -- 1 Who Were the Pythagorean Women? -- 2 Wives, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters -- 3 Who Were the Neopythagorean Women Authors? -- 4 Introduction to the Prose Writings of Neopythagorean Women -- 5 The Letters and Treatises of Neopythagorean Women in the East -- 6 The Letters and Treatises of Neopythagorean Women in the West -- 7 The Neopythagorean Women as Philosophers -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- X -- Z.
Download or read book Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras written by Iamblichus and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 1986-12 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pythagoric life accompanied by fragments of the ethical writings of certain Pythagoreans in the Doric dialect and a collection of Pythagoric sentences from Stobaeus and others.
Download or read book Math with Bad Drawings written by Ben Orlin and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world. In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician. Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star. Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.
Download or read book A History of Pythagoreanism written by Carl A. Huffman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive, authoritative and innovative account of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West. In twenty-one chapters covering a timespan from the sixth century BC to the seventeenth century AD, leading scholars construct a number of different images of Pythagoras and his community, assessing current scholarship and offering new answers to central problems. Chapters are devoted to the early Pythagoreans, and the full breadth of Pythagorean thought is explored including politics, religion, music theory, science, mathematics and magic. Separate chapters consider Pythagoreanism in Plato, Aristotle, the Peripatetics and the later Academic tradition, while others describe Pythagoreanism in the historical tradition, in Rome and in the pseudo-Pythagorean writings. The three great lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry and Iamblichus are also discussed in detail, as is the significance of Pythagoras for the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Download or read book The Pythagorean Theorem written by Eli Maor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frontmatter --Contents --List of Color Plates --Preface --Prologue: Cambridge, England, 1993 --1. Mesopotamia, 1800 BCE --Sidebar 1: Did the Egyptians Know It? --2. Pythagoras --3. Euclid's Elements --Sidebar 2: The Pythagorean Theorem in Art, Poetry, and Prose --4. Archimedes --5. Translators and Commentators, 500-1500 CE --6. François Viète Makes History --7. From the Infinite to the Infinitesimal --Sidebar 3: A Remarkable Formula by Euler --8. 371 Proofs, and Then Some --Sidebar 4: The Folding Bag --Sidebar 5: Einstein Meets Pythagoras --Sidebar 6: A Most Unusual Proof --9. A Theme and Variations --Sidebar 7: A Pythagorean Curiosity --Sidebar 8: A Case of Overuse --10. Strange Coordinates --11. Notation, Notation, Notation --12. From Flat Space to Curved Spacetime --Sidebar 9: A Case of Misuse --13. Prelude to Relativity --14. From Bern to Berlin, 1905-1915 --Sidebar 10: Four Pythagorean Brainteasers --15. But Is It Universal? --16. Afterthoughts --Epilogue: Samos, 2005 --Appendixes --Chronology --Bibliography --Illustrations Credits --Index.
Download or read book Science Secrets written by Alberto A. Martinez and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2011-05-29 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Accessibly written in an engaging style, this book examines classic popular stories in the history of science. Some of the myths discussed include Franklin's Kite, Newton's Apple, and Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom. Martn̕ez successfully holds readers' attention by relying on rich documentation from primary sources to debunk speculations that have become reified over time. He argues that although scientists have disagreed with one another, the disagreements have been productive. Features includes extensive primary source documentation and detailed explanations of how to compare contradictory sources in order to determine which accounts are truly valid"-- Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Divine Harmony written by John Strohmeier and published by . This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divine Harmony describes Pythagoras's wanderings in ancient Phoenicia, Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, and explores key Pythagorean ideas as taught at his scholarly community in southern Italy. This fascinating study of the sixth-century Greek scientist and mystic includes illustrations, a map, a new introduction, and an updated bibliography. Drawing on the writings of Pythagoras's disciples, the authors present a lively portrait of a man whose ideas continue to resonate.
Download or read book The Heritage of Thales written by W.S. Anglin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors' novel approach to some interesting mathematical concepts - not normally taught in other courses - places them in a historical and philosophical setting. Although primarily intended for mathematics undergraduates, the book will also appeal to students in the sciences, humanities and education with a strong interest in this subject. The first part proceeds from about 1800 BC to 1800 AD, discussing, for example, the Renaissance method for solving cubic and quartic equations and providing rigorous elementary proof that certain geometrical problems posed by the ancient Greeks cannot be solved by ruler and compass alone. The second part presents some fundamental topics of interest from the past two centuries, including proof of G del's incompleteness theorem, together with a discussion of its implications.
Download or read book Pythagorean Knowledge from the Ancient to the Modern World written by Almut-Barbara Renger and published by Harrassowitz. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In both ancient tradition and modern research Pythagoreanism has been understood as a religious sect or as a philosophical and scientific community. Numerous attempts have been made to reconcile these pictures as well as to analyze them separately. The most recent scholarship compartmentalizes different facets of Pythagorean knowledge, but this offers no context for exploring their origins, development, and interdependence. This collection aims to reverse this trend, addressing connections between the different fields of Pythagorean knowledge, such as eschatology, metempsychosis, metaphysics, epistemology, arithmology and numerology, music, dietetics and medicine as well as politics. In particular, the contributions discuss how the Pythagorean way of life related to more doctrinal aspects of knowledge, such as Pythagorean religion and science. The volume explores the effects of this interdependence between different kinds of knowledge both within the Pythagorean corpus and in its later reception. Chapters cover historical periods from the Archaic Period (6th century BC) to Neoplatonism, Early Christianity, the European and Arabic Middle Ages, and the Renaissance through to the Early Modern Period (17th century AD). Contributions by E. Afonasin, L. Arcari, D. Baltzly, A. Barker, H. Bartos, A. Bernabe, J. Bremmer, L. Brisson, F. Casadesus, M. Catarzi, S. Chrysakopoulou, G. Cornelli, E. Cottrell, S. Galson, M. Giangiulio, T. Iremadze, A. Izdebska, C. L. Joost-Gaugier, S. Kouloumentas, B. La Sala, R. McKirahan, C. Montepaone, H.-P. Neumann, A. Palmer, A. Provenza, I. Ramelli, D. Robichaud, B. Roling, W. Schmidt-Biggemann, E. Spinelli, I. F. Viltanioti, and L. Zhmud.
Download or read book Pythagoras Trousers written by Margaret Wertheim and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1997 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An "immensely accessible tour (which tells) how the physics lab became another Vatican with a no-girls-allowed sign on its door" (Susan Faludi) this spirited look at the relationship between physics and religion argues that gender inequity in physics is a result of the religious origins of the enterprise.
Download or read book The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature written by Bezalel Bar-Kochva and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark contribution to ongoing debates about perceptions of the Jews in antiquity examines the attitudes of Greek writers of the Hellenistic period toward the Jewish people. Among the leading Greek intellectuals who devoted special attention to the Jews were Theophrastus (the successor of Aristotle), Hecataeus of Abdera (the father of "scientific" ethnography), and Apollonius Molon (probably the greatest rhetorician of the Hellenistic world). Bezalel Bar-Kochva examines the references of these writers and others to the Jews in light of their literary output and personal background; their religious, social, and political views; their literary and stylistic methods; ethnographic stereotypes current at the time; and more.
