The Pythagorean Theorems Origins

Ryan Cleeton 2/20/12 Math History 4150 Adam Helfer

Pythagorass theorem is one of the most famous theorems known to our civilization, stated algebraically as . Most people would say the

Pythagorean theorem originated with Pythagoras, the man the theorem is named after, but in fact tablets dating back to c. 1800 BCE have been unearthed and translated showing an extremely close if not exact relation to the Pythagorean Theorem. Did Pythagoras come up with the theorem himself or is he simply credited with the discovery? The earliest document found that we can accurately tell the date from which it was made still dates c. 200 years after Pythagorass death. According to Eli Moar, author of The Pythagorean Theorem, Pythagoras might not be the man who so derived the theorem after all. Eli starts off in one the best locations possible, the beginning or at least in our case the oldest known relevant data available: tablets dating back to the time of Mesopotamia. Two major tablets discovered are YBC 7289 and Plimpton 322. The names of these two tablets signify simply the location of excavation or location of storage.

Figure 1. YBC 72891

Figure 2. Plimpton 3222

YBC 7289 is a diamond shaped figure with lines extending from the points dissecting it. The symbols on it stand for 30 at the top left, 42.426389, and 1.414213 on the bottom. 1.414213 is equal to correct out to the one hundredth thousandth decimal place, which when multiplied by 30 equals 42.426389. The conclusion is inescapable: the Babylonians knew the relation between the length of the diagonal of a square and its side, d = a . But this in turn means that they were familiar with the Pythagorean theoremor at the very least, with its special case for the diagonal of a square (d2 = a2 + a2 = 2a2)more than a thousand years before the great sage for whom it was named.3[p6] His conclusion that knowing d=a in turn means the

Mesopotamians were familiar with a form of the Pythagorean Theorem is not necessarily true. The relation d = a could have meant that they knew the unit squares diagonal was and that the relation among all other squares sides and

hypotenuses were comparable to that of the unit square. Plimpton 322 is a table of Pythagorean triplets: (3,4,5), (5,12,13), and (8,15,17) to name a few. The two middle columns are the width and diagonal and the last is the sequence of numbers starting at 1 and going to 15. The first column according to Eli is (c/a)2 or the csc of an angle between b and c if b is the shortest length and c the diagonal of a right triangle. Even without the first column dealing with the csc, the tablet still makes definite use of the Pythagorean Theorem multiple times proving the Mesopotamians must have had some knowledge of it. Eli also makes mention of the missing part of Plimpton 322 and if found could translate the tablet to also be the first trigonometric tablets. Eli however makes no mention of two other tablets that date back just as far: BM 96957 and VAT 6598.

BM 96957 and VAT 6598 when first discovered were considered two separate tablets but since have been proven to be one in the same. BM and VAT are a series of problems compared with todays time as homework for a middle school math class trying to solve for the hypotenuse, width, or height of a rectangular gate when given the other two. These two tablets contain numerous problems that of which I have only investigated in detail eight of these. The eight problems I have dealt with use different methods to try and solve for the various lengths finally coming to the conclusion of using the Pythagorean Theorem. These tablets never discern the accuracy or difference in the methods used nor do they state explicitly what the Pythagorean theorem is however during this period it was not generally practiced to state such things into theorems or formulas as we do today.

Eli also makes reference to the Egyptians having possible knowledge of either the Pythagorean theorem or some form of it due to the precision of the heights and slopes of the pyramids. The Egyptians wrote on papyrus, which is extremely hard to maintain for long periods of time, which explains why the main source of information from that period comes from hieroglyphics written on the pyramid walls. The walls make hardly any reference to Egyptians mathematics however giving us little to go on. The only papyrus discovered was the Rhind papyrus, which deals with eighty-four mathematical problems but never once is the Pythagorean theorem stated. There have been numerous ways proposed explaining how the Egyptians must of known the Pythagorean theorem but quoting an eminent scholar, Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, In 90% of all the books [on the history of mathematics], one finds the statement the Egyptians knew the right triangle of sides 3, 4, and 5, and that they used it for laying out right angles. How much value has this statement? None!3[p15] Moving east to India, Eli makes mention of the Indians mathematics being an offspring of Hindu religious practices.3[p66] The Sulbasturas are a group of writings dealing with the dimensions of sacrificial altars. One author, known as Baudhayana, makes reference to a special case of the Pythagorean theorem for a 4545-90 degree triangle dating as far back as 600BCE. The full general theorem is stated later. Stephen Hawking also makes reference to the Pythagorean Theorem being around the same period of time but he says that the knowledge contained in the sulbastura must have been known long before the book was written. He also mentions that in a few Chinese treaties between India and China makes reference to

chords of length of the diagonal for a 3, 4 triangle is 5 and a specific explanation on how to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle from the other two sides. The treaties date back to 1100 BCE, almost 600 years before Pythagoras was even born.4 Stephen also makes a few claims that the Indians mastered Pythagorean theorem around the same time as the Greeks but separately. The first real mention of the Pythagorean theorem is c.200 years after Pythagorass death in Euclids most famous book Elements, although he never makes mention to it as The Pythagorean Theorem. Known to us algebraically as , the Greeks preferred to think of everything in geometric terms since algebra had not been invented yet. The Pythagorean Theorem was originally understood: not as a metric relation between the sides of a right triangle, but as a property of the squares erected on these sides. This literal interpretation of the theorem restricts the proof to areal [area-related] equivalence.5 Essentially saying that given two squares with sides equal to the sides of a right triangle and a square with side equal to that of the diagonal or hypotenuse then the areas of the two smaller squares added together will be equal to that of the area of the hypotenuse square. Stephen Hawking agrees with Eli in discerning that Euclids mention of the general formula is the first recorded proof of the Pythagorean Theorem or known to Euclid as Proposition I 47. All Euclid seems to have been was a gatherer of the then mathematical formulas and postulates known. Although Euclid was fantastic writer being that his book was one of the most read mathematical books for nearly two thousand years.

Eli Maor has put together one of the most accurate if not a little lacking portrayals of how the Pythagorean theorem came to be what it is today, although we may find later in the future information to disqualify some of what Eli believes to be true. He organized his book in such a way as to make the reading less technical and more of a pleasure read and given his choice of mathematics to write on can be quite difficult. I did find it somewhat dishearting that Eli Maor makes a small if nonexistent mention about Indias ties to the Pythagorean theorem, from which Stephen Hawking says the Indians seemed to formulate the whole thing on their own hundreds of years before Pythagoras which warrants further investigation on Elis part showing possible bias towards the Indians. Over looking that minor flaw Eli Maors book The Pythagorean Theorem is worth the read to anyone who has the time. 1. Aaboe, A. "YBC 7289." Photo. YBC 7289 18 Sept. 2006. 20 Feb. 2012<http://www. it.stlawu.edu>. 2. Jran Fribert. Methods and traditions of Babylonian Mathematics I: Plimpton 322, Pythagorean triples, and the Babylonian triangle parameter equations. Historia Math. 8 (1981), 277-318 3. Maor, Eli. The Pythagorean Theorem: a 4,000-year history. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print. 4. Hawking, Stephen. God Created the Integers: the Mathematical Breakthroughs that Change the World. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005. Print. 5. (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1955), p. 97