''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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