Syracuse (then part of Greece) 287-212 BC

Discovered how to calculate the volume of a sphere, and even wanted this diagram on his tombstone. He made so much progress in this area that nothing could be added for 18 centuries. EUREKA (I have found it!) Bouyancy

2 writing x

Developed Exponential system of large numbers

Discovered the Law of the Lever

This statue in the National Museum in Naples, Italy, was widely claimed to be Archimedes. It is actually a bust of Archidamos III, a third century BC king of Sparta

Italian postage stamp honoring Archimedes May 2, 1983 Scott Catalogue Number 1559

Archimedes is commemorated on a Greek postage stamp from 1983.

The Fields Medal carries a portrait of Archimedes.

Archimedes water screw

This is a pump, still used in many parts of the world.

A 1740 engraving of Archimedes planning the defenses of Syracuse. The Greek writing on his cap is

(Archimedes the geometer).

Archimedes designed many tools for defending Syracuse from invasion. This is a model of how one of Archimedes war gadgets may have worked.

A detail of a wall painting in the Stanzino delle Matematiche in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Painted by Giulio Parigi (1571-1635) in the years 1599-1600.

Burning Mirror Archimedes used mirrors to reflect and intensify the sun, causing the ships to catch on fire.

Wall painting from the Stanzino delle Matematiche in the Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence, Italy). Painted by Giulio Parigi (1571-1635) in the years 1599-1600.

Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth

Engraving from Mechanics Magazine London, 1824

The death of Archimedes depicted on a Roman floor mosaic

Pythagoras is often considered the first true mathematician.

The Pythagoreans' believed All is Number, meaning that everything in the universe depended on numbers. They were also the first to teach that the Earth is a Sphere revolving around the sun.

Pythagoras was born on Samos a Greek island off the coast of Asia Minor. He was born to Pythais (mom) and Mnesarchus (dad).

Life

As a young man, he left his native city for Southern Italy, to escape the tyrannical government. Pythagoras then headed to Memphis in Egypt to study with the priests there who were renowned for their wisdom. It may have been in Egypt where he learned some geometric principles which eventually inspired his formulation of the theorem that is now called by his name.

Towards the end of his life he fled to Metapontum because of a plot against him and his followers by a noble of Croton named Cylon. He died in Metapontum around 90 years old from unknown causes.

Many of Pythagoras beliefs reflect those of the Egyptians. The Egyptian priests were very secretive. The refusal to eat beans or wear animal skins and striving for purity were also characteristics of the Egyptians.

a2+b2=c2

Proof of Pythagorean theorem by rearrangement of 4 identical right triangles. Since the total area and the areas of the triangles are all constant, the total black area is constant. But this can be divided into squares delineated by the triangle sides a, b, c, demonstrating that a2 + b2 = c2 .

The sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles or 180 degrees
Venus as an evening star was the same planet as Venus as a morning star.

The five regular solids

The abstract quantity of numbers. There is a big step from 2 ships + 2 ships = 4 ships, to the abstract result 2 +2=4

Regular Solids
Tetrahedron Cube

Octahedron
Dodecahedron Icosahedron

Regular Solids
Measure the net of this Tetrahedron and find the surface area

One of the Pythagoreans most important discoveries was that the diagonal of the square is longer than its sides. This showed that irrational numbers existed (decimal numbers that never end).

a<c b<c

Pythagoras
569 B.C. 475 B.C. Greece First pure mathematician 5 beliefs Secret society Pythagorean theorem

Aristotle
384 B.C. 322 B.C. Greece Philosopher Studied mathematics in relation to science

Euclid
325 B.C. 265 B.C. Greece Wrote The Elements Geometry today

Al-Khwarizmi
780 A.D.-850 A.D. Baghdad (in Iraq) 1st book on Algebra Algebra Natural Number Equation

Leonardo da Vinci
1452 A.D. - 1519 A.D. Italy Geometry with mechanical methods Painter Architect Mechanic

Galileo Galilei
1564 A.D. 1642 A.D. Italy Teacher Astrology Mathematician

De Lhopital
1661 A.D. 1704 A.D. France Differential Calculus LHopitals Rule

Leonhard Euler
1707 A.D. 1783 A.D. Switzerland Mechanica (book on mathematical analysis) Calculus of variations Analytic Geometry Trigonometry Symbols