When college students are asked what they remember most about geometry from Junior High, without fail, they refer to remembering The Pythagorean Theorem. For those who may not fully recall, The Pythagorean Theorem states that the squares of the lengths of the sides of any right triangle will sum to the square of the hypotenuse of that right triangle. In other words, a^2+b^2=c^2. It may be the catchy name, it may be the simplicity of the equation for the theorem, it may even be that the experience of learning The Pythagorean Theorem was so painful that it has been engraved into their minds. Whatever the reason, The Pythagorean Theorem has long stood the test of time and proved to be extremely useful in all branches of science. The name and equation are well remembered to those who have learned the theorem, but do we know where the theorem came from?
Although the theorem carries the name of Pythagoras, there is evidence that suggests the relationship stated in the theorem was known by the Babylonians a full 1,000 years before Pythagoras' time. At the height of the Babylonian empire, the Babylonians were the primary source of enrichments, learning, and discoveries in the world. Because of this, it is not fully surprising that they may have already discovered The Pythagorean Theorem. Although there is no evidence to suggest, the Babylonians could very well have formulated a proof of The Pythagorean Theorem. We do know that they had rules for generating Pythagorean triples and that they also came up with an approximation for the square root of 2 up to five accurate decimal places (Smoller). Although they may not have fully understood the application of The Pythagorean Theorem, Babylonian Mathematicians were making progress in understanding the theorem.
Now fast forward about 500 years and along comes already famous Indian mathematicians. Alongside many of their other theorems and identities, the Indians are also known to have analyzed and understood the same relationship that Pythagoras is credited to have discovered many years later. The Sulbasutras, the appendices to a manual on constructing religious alters, discusses the Pythagorean Theorem in relation to orientation, shape, and area requirements for these religious altars (Smoller). This information shows that the Indians were not only able to understand the relationship, but were also able to apply it to their everyday life, unlike the Babylonians. Soon thereafter, Chinese astrologers and mathematicians reference The Pythagorean Theorem in their works dating from sometime between 500 and 200 BC. It is skeptical whether or nor this predated Pythagoras, however it is evident that the Chinese were aware of this theorem.
Although many other civilizations were aware of the relationships and applications of The Pythagorean Theorem, the theorem itself is still named after one man. Pythagoras of Samos was born in 570 BC and died around the age of 75 (495 BC). He contributed many great things to the world of mathematics. One of the most notable of his accomplishments was the proof of The Pythagorean Theorem. Even though the credit of this proof is his, there is speculation as to whether he was the one to actually prove it. Back in the time of Pythagoras, he was the leader of a brotherhood often known as The Pythagoreans. This brotherhood was under his rule and therefore he claimed all of the discoveries as his own work. Because of this, we know that there is a possibility that one of his brothers formulated the actual proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. The truth is, we don't know a whole lot about Pythagoras. Historians who lived hundreds of years after Pythagoras' death provided the information we now have. With this information, all that we actually do know about Pythagoras should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Although the life of Pythagoras is somewhat of a mystery, The Pythagorean Theorem is well known and understood throughout the world of mathematics.
