Pythagoras
Pythagoras research papers often focus on the great mathematician and his Pythagorean theorem. However, you can impress your professor by including much more about the strangely unique man Pythagoras in your research paper. Paper Masters suggests you include the information you see below in your paper on Pythagoras.
Pythagoras (c.570 BCE- c. 495 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician best remembered for his contribution to geometry, the Pythagorean theorem. Very little factual information is known about Pythagoras. According to legend, he was born on the island of Samos, visited Egypt, and moved to mainland Greece where established his own religion.
Pythagoras and Knowledge
Most of what is known about Pythagoras was written by others several centuries after his death. It is written that he traveled extensively, seeking knowledge throughout the ancient world. His famous geometrical theorem states that the sum of the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of he squares of the other two sides, or a2+b2=c2. Pythagoras is credited with the creation of this proof, although there is evidence that earlier mathematicians, including the Babylonians, were familiar with the formula. Indeed, there is evidence that Pythagoras himself never dealt with mathematics during his lifetime, but was a subject taken up by his followers.
Pythagoras and Religion
What Pythagoras is less remembered for are his religious and scientific views.
- Pythagoras was a firm believer in metempsychosis, the transmigration of the soul (reincarnation).
- Pythagoras established a school that was based upon his religious teachings, bound by strict secrecy.
- Pythagoreanism, his mystical religion, maintained that numbers constituted the true nature of the universe.