Free Republic

The influence of Pythagoras in mathematics and philosophy remains strong today, as do the Themysteries surrounding the great Greek philosopher. Like philosophy and religion, the science of mathematics can change the way we perceive the world and has a massive impact on our lives. Pythagoras’ philosophy influenced both Plato and Aristotle, and through them his ideas were fundamental in Western philosophy. In his life 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher combined philosophy, mathematics, and religion, and his work and ideas are still influential to this day. The Pythagorean theorem remains fundamental in mathematics, and is taught in schools across the...

It is one the oldest mathematical problems in the world. Several centuries ago, the twin primes conjecture was formulated. As its name indicates, this hypothesis, which many science historians have attributed to the Greek mathematician Euclid, deals with prime numbers, those divisible only by themselves and by one (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc.). Under this assumption, there exists an infinite number of pairs of prime numbers whose difference is two, called twin primes (e.g., 3 and 5), but nobody has been able to confirm this so far.

Did Plato hide a secret code in his writings? Dr. Jay Kennedy, a historian and a member of the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences, recently published a scholarly work parsing the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato’s writing, discovering a rhythmic system of symbols that constitute a musical pattern in the storied philosopher’s key texts. This rhythm is known as “The Plato Code.” Dr. Kennedy closely read Plato’s writings, most notably The Republic, and in its structure, he was able to perceive an entire blueprint of constructed Greek musical notes. Kennedy observed how Plato would insert groups of words at...

The ‘music of the spheres’ was born from the effort to use numbers to explain the universeAn image of a white half circle at the bottom-center on a starry background. There are 8 arches spreading away from the circle. The Pythagoreans believed that the motions of the heavenly bodies, with just the right ratios of their distances from a central fire, made pleasant music — a concept that evolved into the “music of the spheres.” If you’ve ever heard the phrase “the music of the spheres,” your first thought probably wasn’t about mathematics. But in its historical origin, the music...

At an American Mathematical Society meeting, high school students presented a proof of the Pythagorean theorem that used trigonometry—an approach that some once considered impossibleTwo high school students have proved the Pythagorean theorem in a way that one early 20th-century mathematician thought was impossible: using trigonometry. Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, both at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, announced their achievement last month at an American Mathematical Society meeting. “It’s an unparalleled feeling, honestly, because there’s just nothing like it, being able to do something that ... people don’t think that young people can do,” Johnson told WWL-TV, a...

The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who lived 2,500 years ago, applied his genius to music as well throughout his brilliant career, creating the Pythagorean comma as part of music theory, and his brilliance is still recognized to this day. The Pythagorean Theorem remains one of the fundamental concepts in the realm of mathematics and is still taught in schools across the world. The influence of the Ancient Greek thinker, who was born on the island of Samos in the year 570 BC, remains strong today in many realms—but, unfortunately, so do the mysteries surrounding the great Greek philosopher. Pythagoras’...

The Battle of Evermore was written by Page/Plant of Led Zeppelin.Performed by Melbourne choir Shaking the Tree on location at the Northcote Uniting Church and the Darebin Parklands.Shaking the Tree Choir directed by Bronwyn Calcutt.Video devised and directed by Bronwyn Calcutt with assistance from Rebecca Palmer, Karen Mecoles and Julie Moore.Filmed by Leo Dale http://wefostudios.comWith assistance from Marek Silver and Joe EidelsonAudio recorded by Myles Mumford Rolling Stock Studio Melbourne.Choral Arrangement by Bronwyn Calcutt.Choreography assistance by Marlena Raymond and Nellie Montague.Musicians: Jonathan Liddelow and Simon LevertonEdited by Bronwyn Calcutt, Leo Dale and Rebecca Palmer.The Battle of Evermore - Shaking the...

An ancient clay tablet shows that the Babylonians used Pythagorean triples to measure accurate right angles for surveying land.Students may not believe that Pythagoras’ Theorem has real-world uses, but a 3,700-year-old tablet proves that their maths teachers are right. The artifact, named Si.427, shows how ancient land surveyors used geometry to draw boundaries accurately. Discovered in central Iraq in 1894, Si.427 sat in a museum in Istanbul for over a century. Now, mathematician Dr Daniel Mansfield from the University of New South Wales, Australia, has studied the clay tablet and uncovered its meaning. “Si.427 dates from the Old Babylonian (OB)...

Si.427 is a hand tablet from 1900-1600 BC, created by an Old Babylonian surveyor. It’s made out of clay and the surveyor wrote on it with a stylus. Credit: Must credit UNSW Sydney ========================================================================================== A UNSW mathematician has revealed the origins of applied geometry on a 3700-year-old clay tablet that has been hiding in plain sight in a museum in Istanbul for over a century. The tablet – known as Si.427 – was discovered in the late 19th century in what is now central Iraq, but its significance was unknown until the UNSW scientist’s detective work was revealed today. Most...

Stonehenge builders used Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before Greek philosopher was born, say experts The builders of Britain’s ancient stone circles like Stonehenge were using Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before the Greek philosopher was born, experts have claimed. A new book, Megalith, has re-examined the ancient geometry of Neolithic monuments and concluded they were constructed by sophisticated astronomers who understood lengthy lunar, solar and eclipse cycles and built huge stone calendars using complex geometry One contributor, megalithic expert Robin Heath has even proposed that there exists a great Pythagorean triangle in the British landscape linking Stonehenge, the site from which...

The 22 million digit number and the amazing maths behind primes January 21, 2016 by Steve Humble, The Conversation Primes: here be magic. Credit: Shutterstock It is a quite extraordinary figure. Dr Curtis Cooper from the University of Central Missouri has found the largest-known prime number - written (274207281)-1. It is around 22m digits long and, if printed in full, would take you days to read. Its discovery comes thanks to a collaborative project of volunteers who use freely available software called GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) to search for primes. A number which can only be divided by...

Finite formula found for partition numbersFor centuries, some of the greatest names in math have tried to make sense of partition numbers, the basis for adding and counting. Many mathematicians added major pieces to the puzzle, but all of them fell short of a full theory to explain partitions. Instead, their work raised more questions about this fundamental area of math. On Friday, Emory mathematician Ken Ono will unveil new theories that answer these famous old questions. Ono and his research team have discovered that partition numbers behave like fractals. They have unlocked the divisibility properties of partitions, and developed...

An illuminating exhibition of thirteen ancient Babylonian tablets, along with supplemental documentary material, opens at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) on November 12, 2010. Before Pythagoras: The Culture of Old Babylonian Mathematics reveals the highly sophisticated mathematical practice and education that flourished in Babylonia -- present-day Iraq -- more than 1,000 years before the time of the Greek sages Thales and Pythagoras, with whom mathematics is traditionally said to have begun. The tablets in the exhibition, at once beautiful and enlightening, date from the Old Babylonian Period (ca. 1900-1700 BCE). They have been...

Archeologists to Unearth Ancient Egyptian City Wed Aug 28,10:25 AM ET By Heba Kandil CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - In a squalid suburb of northeast Cairo, a red granite obelisk towering above ramshackle homes is the last visible vestige of a nearly 7,000-year-old city where ancient Egyptians believed life began. Archeologists say they soon expect to unearth other artifacts and unlock the secrets of the sun-cult city of On buried beneath today's suburbs of Ain Shams, which means "eye of the sun" in Arabic, and the adjacent area of Matariya. "It's a matter of a few months and the supreme council...

TWO REVOLUTIONS, TWO VIEWS OF MAN By Jean F. Drew As every American schoolchild has been taught, in Western history there were two great sociopolitical revolutions that took place near the end of the eighteenth century: The American Revolution of 1775; and the French, of 1789. Children are taught that both revolutions were fought because of human rights in some way; thus bloody warfare possibly could be justified, condoned so long as the blood and treasure were shed to protect the “rights of man.” The American schoolchild is assured that the American and French revolutions were both devoted to the...

March 14, 2007 — The leader of the most powerful empire in the world invades a small country to avenge his father's failure to do so years ago. His army is relentlessly attacked by a proud group of insurgents who denounce the empire's decadence. The leader of a brave fighting force vows to defend freedom at all costs against an enemy from the Middle East. To rally his troops, he makes a speech, declaring, "The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant." Is one of them President Bush? That's the question on the minds of some political...

Schoolchildren from Caversham have become the first to learn a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible using a new number - 'nullity'. But the suggestion has left many mathematicians cold. Dr James Anderson, from the University of Reading's computer science department, says his new theorem solves an extremely important problem - the problem of nothing. "Imagine you're landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot's working," he suggests. "If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you're in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you're dead." Computers simply cannot divide by...

Dr. Dennis Danielson, professor of English at the University of British Columbia, has some advice: Don't believe everything you read in textbooks. Speaking at the meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation in July, Danielson noted that the conventional wisdom says that when scholars thought the earth was the center of the universe, then humans were the king of the cosmic hill, creatures in God's image. But when Copernicus discovered Earth orbited the Sun, man concluded that he was a mere animal -- or so the story goes. After nearly a decade of research, however, Danielson, who has specialized in linking...

Published online: 28 February 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060227-3 Were ancient Minoans centuries ahead of their time? Unprecedented mathematical knowledge found in Bronze Age wall paintings. Philip Ball Did the Minoans understand the Archimedes' spiral more than 1,000 years before him? A geometrical figure commonly attributed to Archimedes in 300 BC has been identified in Minoan wall paintings dated to over 1,000 years earlier. The mathematical features of the paintings suggest that the Minoans of the Late Bronze Age, around 1650 BC, had a much more advanced working knowledge of geometry than has previously been recognized, says computer scientist Constantin Papaodysseus of...

One of the greatest engineering achievements of ancient times is a water tunnel, 1,036 meters (4,000 feet) long, excavated through a mountain on the Greek island of Samos in the sixth century B.C. It was dug through solid limestone by two separate teams advancing in a straight line from both ends, using only picks, hammers, and chisels. This was a prodigious feat of manual labor. The intellectual feat of determining the direction of tunneling was equally impressive. How did they do this? No one knows for sure, because no written records exist. When the tunnel was dug, the Greeks had...