[326] in Professors_Quote_Board
Prof. Hopkins (18.06)
drmorris@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (drmorris@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Oct 12 18:02:36 1990
...and that brings us to the pythagorean theorem. It really shouldn't
be called the Pythagorean theorem, because the Greeks got it from the
Babalonians. The Babalonies babbled a lot so it wasn't hard for the
Greeks to get it. But the Greeks tried to keep it a secret. You see
the Greeks thought every number was rational, and thus, could be written
in the form:
a
- (writes on board)
b
It didn't take long for them to look at the simple triangle
/|
/ | 1 (writes on board)
----
1
and realize that the hypotenuse was the square root of two which they
quickly found was *not* rational. So, they came to the immediately
obvious concluesion that the world was going to end. But they wanted to
keep this a secret, so as not to cause a panic. They formed Pythagorean
societies and drew stars on their hand. Then, if they wanted to talk
about it, they would flash their hands with the star on them.
(Pretends to draw star in his hand and flashes it.)
Wait, I'm digressing, aren't I?
