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The Lives and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem
Bloomberg Press
January 2011
On Sale: January 4, 2011
304 pages
ISBN: 1596915226
EAN: 9781596915220
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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,
acclaimed authors Robert and Ellen Kaplan. With wit, verve,
and clarity, they 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, who almost certainly did not make the
statement that bears his name. How can a theorem have more than one proof? Why does this
one have more than two hundred-or is it four thousand? The
Pythagorean theorem has even more applications than proofs:
Ancient Egyptians used it for surveying property lines, and
today astronomers call on it to measure the distance between
stars. Its generalizations are stunning-the theorem works
even with shapes on the sides that aren't squares, and not
just in two dimensions, but any number you like, up to
infinity. And perhaps its most intriguing feature of all,
this tidy expression opened the door to the world of
irrational numbers, an untidy discovery that deeply troubled
Pythagoras's disciples. Like the authors' bestselling The Nothing That Is and
Chances Are . . .-hailed as "erudite and witty,"
"magnificent," and "exhilarating"-Hidden Harmonies makes the
excitement of mathematics palpable.
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