The ancient Greeks made a huge contribution to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics. Other nations at that time also possessed a certain amount of knowledge. But if the Egyptians and Babylonians were content with the already discovered and explored areas, the Greeks went even further. They did not stop there and opened up new horizons in various areas of life.
Mathematics in Ancient Greece
This science is one of the oldest and most in demand. Of course, the Greeks contributed to the development of culture and geography, logic and economics. Their philosophical school was so developed that it still surprises contemporaries with statements and discoveries. But mathematics has a separate niche in this complex system of scientific knowledge.
Many achievements in the field of arithmetic are due to the discussions that were so popular among the Greeks. People gathered in the square, argued and thus came to the only correct decision. "Truth is born in a dispute" - this dogma has come down to us from those times.
Any ancient Greek mathematicianenjoyed honor and respect. The derived theorems and formulas, hard to understand by ordinary people, elevated him to the top of the pedestal, to the ranks of other great minds. The development of mathematics as a science is largely due to Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid and other personalities, whose works and discoveries form the basis of the modern course of algebra and geometry in schools and universities.
Pythagoras and his school
This is an ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher, politician, public and religious figure. He was born around 580 BC on the island of Samos, as a result of which he was called by the people of Samos. According to legend, Pythagoras was a very handsome and stately man. He did not get tired of studying everything new and unknown, his education was truly elite. The young man studied not only in his homeland, but also in India, Egypt and Babylon.
Pythagoras, an ancient Greek mathematician, patronized slave owners and the aristocracy. An idealist to the marrow of his bones, he founded his own school in Crotone, which was both a religious and political structure. A clear organization of everyday life, strict rules and canons are its main features. For example, members of the community could not own private property, followed a vegetarian diet, and pledged not to reveal their teacher's teachings to strangers.
When democracy came to Croton, Pythagoras and his followers fled to Metapont. But a popular uprising raged in this city as well. In one of the fights, a 90-year-old mathematician died. Stopped with him.exist and his famous school.
Discoveries of Pythagoras
It is known for sure that it was his authorship that describes integers, their properties and proportions. He was also one of the first scientists who argued that the Earth is round, that the planets do not have the same trajectory of motion as the stars. All these ideas are the basis of the famous heliocentric doctrine of Copernicus. Since the whole life of the scientist was surrounded by mystery, not many interesting facts about his activities have survived to this day. Some doubt that it was he who proved the famous theorem. According to some reports, many other ancient peoples knew it long before the birth of a mathematician.
The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician had many abilities, and not only in the field of exact sciences. His name and activities are shrouded in myths and legends, as well as mysticism. It was believed that Pythagoras controls the spirits from the afterlife, understands the language of animals, communicates with them, sets the flight of birds in the direction he needs, and knows how to predict the future. He was also credited with healing abilities.
Archimedes: Major Works
This is one of the brightest representatives of that era, a famous scientist, philosopher, mathematician and inventor. He was born in 287 BC in Syracuse. In this small town, he lived almost all his life, here he wrote his famous treatises and tested new mechanisms. His father was the court astronomer Phidias, so the training of Archimedes took place at the highest level. He had access to the best library of the time,reading rooms which he spent more than one day.
Several mathematical works of the scientist have survived to this day. Conventionally, they can be divided into three main groups.
- Works devoted to volumes and areas of curvilinear bodies and figures. They contain many proven theorems.
- Geometric analysis of hydrostatic and static problems. These are studies about the balance of figures, about the position of the body in water, and so on.
- Other mathematical work. For example, about the calculation of grains of sand, mechanical proof of theorems.
Archimedes died during the capture of Syracuse by Roman troops. He was so engrossed in drawing a new geometric problem that he didn't notice the warrior who came up behind him. The soldier killed the scientist, not knowing that the commander gave the order to save the life of the famous mathematician and philosopher.
The contribution of Archimedes to the development of exact sciences
Every child is familiar with this outstanding figure from school. Who is he, the ancient Greek mathematician who exclaimed "Eureka"? The answer to this question is simple - it's Archimedes. According to legend, the king instructed him to find out whether his crown was made of pure gold or the jeweler cheated by diluting it with other metals. Thinking about this problem, Archimedes lay down in a bath filled with water. And then a startling discovery occurred to him: the amount of liquid that overflows over the edge of the bath is equal to the volume of water displaced by his body. Having reached this conclusion, heshouted the well-known word "eureka" to all of us. The ancient Greek mathematician with this exclamation jumped out of the bathhouse and ran home, in what his mother gave birth, in a hurry to write down his discovery.
Besides, two thousand years before the discovery of integrals, Archimedes was able to calculate the area of a parabolic segment. He opened the world to the number "pi", proving that the ratio of the diameter of a circle and the length of its circumference is always the same for any such geometric figure. He created the so-called Archimedes screw - the prototype of modern air and ship propellers. Among his achievements are throwing and lifting machines. The secret of creating his "incendiary mirror", with which enemy ships were destroyed, has not yet been revealed by modern researchers.
Euclid
Most of his time he worked on musical works, revealed the secrets of mechanics and physics, studied astronomy. But he nevertheless devoted part of his works to mathematics: he brought to mind several proofs and theorems. It is difficult to overestimate his contribution to the development of this science, since the works of Euclid became the basis for other scientists who lived many centuries after him.
What is the name of the ancient Greek mathematician who wrote the famous mathematical collection "Beginnings", consisting of 15 books? Of course, Euclid. He was able to formulate the basic provisions of geometry, proved important theorems: about the sum of the angles of a triangle and the Pythagorean theorem. Also, his name is associated with the doctrine of the construction of regular polyhedra, whichtoday every young mathematician admires in geometry lessons. Euclid discovered the method of exhaustion. It was adopted by Newton and Leibniz, who discovered methods of calculus: integral and differential.
Thales
This ancient Greek mathematician was born around 625 BC. For a long time he lived in Egypt and closely communicated with the ruler of this country, King Amasis. Legend has it that he once astounded the pharaoh by measuring the height of the pyramid only by the size of its shadow.
Thales is considered the founder of Greek science, one of the seven wise men who changed the foundations of knowledge. Historians are sure that Thales was the first to prove the basic theorems of geometry. For example, about the fact that an angle inscribed in a semicircle is always right, the diameter divides the circle into two identical parts, an isosceles triangle has equal base angles, all vertical angles are identical, and so on.
Thales deduced a formula according to which triangles will always be the same if they have identical one face and angles adjacent to it. He learned to determine the distance to ships sailing in the distance using conditional triangles. In addition, he made a couple of discoveries in astronomical science, determining the exact time of the solstices and equinoxes. He was also the first to accurately calculate the length of the year.
Eratosthenes
This is quite a versatile figure. He was fond of space exploration, geographical discoveries, researched speech, language turns and historical events. In the field of algebra andgeometry, he is known to us as an ancient Greek mathematician who made a discovery in the system of prime numbers. He created the "Sieve of Eratosthenes", an interesting method that is still taught in schools. Thanks to him, you can filter out prime numbers from the general series. The numbers were not crossed out, as today, but pierced in the general drawing. Hence the name - "sieve".
Eratosthenes managed to independently construct a mesolabium - a device for solving the Delian problem of doubling the cube based on the laws of mechanics. He was the first to measure the Earth. Having calculated the length of a part of the earth's meridian, he deduced the circumference of the planet - 39 thousand 960 kilometers. I made a mistake only for some insignificant 300 kilometers. Eratosthenes is indeed a prominent figure of that time, without his achievements mathematics could not exist in its usual form.
Heron
This ancient Greek mathematician lived in the first century BC. The data are approximate, since there is very little exact evidence about his life that has survived to this day. It is known that Heron was fond of the laws of physics, mechanics, appreciated the achievements of engineering science. It was he who first created automatic doors, a puppet theater, a sail turbine, an ancient "taximeter" - a device for measuring the road, an automatic machine and a self-loading crossbow.
Many of his works were devoted to mathematics. He deduced new geometric formulas, developed methods for calculating geometric figures. Heron created the famous formula, named after him, with which you can calculate the area of \u200b\u200ba triangle if you know the length of all itssides. After himself, he left many handwritten books, which reflected not only his works, but also the studies of other scientists. And this is his greatest merit. Thanks to these records, today we know about Archimedes, Pythagoras and other famous mathematicians who became symbols of that era and glorified Ancient Greece throughout the ancient world.
