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  • Essay / Pythagoras: the impact of the great philosopher on culture

    PythagorasHis life, his teachings and his disciplesPythagoras, Greek philosopher and religious leader, was responsible for important developments in the history of mathematics, astronomy and music theory. He inspired many mathematicians and philosophers like Aristotle. He was born around 500 BC on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. Most of his early years were spent traveling and seeking wisdom. Around 530 BC, he finally decided to settle in Crotone, a Greek colony in southern Italy, and founded a philosophical and religious school there which attracted many followers. There he founded the Pythagorean brotherhood. This was a group of his disciples inspired by his teachings and whose beliefs and ideas were rediscovered during the Renaissance and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy. The group was strongly religious and devoted to the reform of political, moral and social life. The group was influential in the region, but its involvement in politics ultimately led to the brotherhood's suppression. For this reason, Pythagoras was forced to withdraw and leave the region. He then moved to Metapontum, a Greek city in southern Italy, where he died around 500 BC.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Over the years, all of Pythagoras' works and writings have been lost. It is therefore difficult to distinguish his teachings from those of his disciples. Among the core beliefs of the Pythagoreans are “the beliefs that reality, at its deepest level, is mathematical in nature; that philosophy can be used for spiritual purification; that the soul can rise to union with the divine; and that certain symbols have a mystical meaning. Although Pythagoras is generally credited with the theory of the functional meaning of numbers in the objective world and in music, his disciples are credited with the development of the Pythagorean theorem in geometry and the application of number relationships to music theory, to acoustics. , and astronomy. The Pythagoreans believed that all relationships could be reduced to numerical relationships. They believed that, in a way, “all things are numbers.” This generalization came from certain observations in music, mathematics and astronomy. The Pythagoreans noticed that vibrating strings produced harmonious sounds when the ratios between the lengths of the strings were whole numbers, and that these ratios could be extended to other instruments. They knew, like the Egyptians before them, that any triangle whose sides were in the ratio 3:4:5 was a right triangle. Pythagoras, or perhaps one of his students, proved that if triangle ABC is a right triangle with a right angle at C, then c(2) = a(2) + b(2). This Pythagorean theorem, according to which the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (A squared + B squared = C squared), was perhaps known in Babylonia , where Pythagoras traveled while still young. The reverse theorem (If c(2) = a(2) + b(2) in a triangle ABC, then the angle at C is a right angle) seems to have been used much earlier. For example, the early Egyptians used knotted ropes to form triangles with sides measuring 3, 4, and 5 units long. Because 5(2) = 3(2) + 4(2), the angle opposite the side of length 5 was assumed to be a right angle. In astronomy, the Pythagoreans were aware of the periodic numerical relationships of celestial bodies. We..