Contributions

  • Kaplan, Ellen, 1936- - Contributor

Publication

2010 - Bloomsbury Press, New York, New York (State)

Language

English

Word Count

72,500 words, Guess

Page Count

290 pages

Physical Format

Hardcover

Identifiers

and 2 more

Classifications

  • DDC516.22
  • LCCQA460.P8 K37 2010
  • LCCQA460.P8 K37 2011

Description

A squared plus b squared equals c squared. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Yet this familiar expression is a gateway into the riotous garden of mathematics, and sends us on a journey of exploration in the company of two inspired guides, who trace the life of the Pythagorean theorem from ancient Babylon to the present, visiting along the way Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, President James Garfield, and the Freemasons--not to mention the elusive Pythagoras himself. Why does this theorem have more than two hundred proofs--or is it four thousand? And it has even more applications than proofs: Ancient Egyptians used it for surveying, and today astronomers call on it to measure the distance between stars. It works not just in two dimensions, but any number you like, up to infinity. And perhaps most intriguing of all, it opened the door to the world of irrational numbers.--From publisher description.

Subjects

Topics

HistoryHistoireHistoriaMatematikMathematicsMathematiquesNEW LIST 20110429

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