What comes to your mind when you hear about Pythagoras?

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

Introduction

Pythagoras of Samos was a famous Greek mathematician and philosopher ( c. 570 — c. 495 BC). Pythagoras is associated with the famous geometric theorem that bears his name. The theorem states that In a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

We all know about this. But back in his day, he was known as a mystic and a prophet. He was the founder of Pythagoreanism, a cult based on the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. In Croton he became the spiritual leader of a secret society based on a philosophical religion. Pythagoreans survived in Italy for nearly two hundred years after his death, and his doctrines continued to be taught until the sixth century CE.

The Pythagoreans were the first to study the regular solids. Pythagoras is said to have known of the cube and the tetrahedron, and there is a longstanding scholarly disagreement over whether he also knew of the icosahedron and the octahedron. [Platonic solid]