A right triangle. This is the proof of the Pythagorean Theorem supposedly written by Pythagoras about 500 BC: The Pythagorean Theorem says that in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the two right-angle [...]
An Iranian fire sacrifice Zoroaster/Zarathustra himself Around 1000 BC (probably), about the same time that people in India were writing the Rig Veda, a man named Zoroaster (also called Zarathustra) was a priest in a small [...]
Albigensians were also called Cathars This story starts about 1050 AD, not long after the Capetians took power in northern France. Some Christian people in the south of France began to think differently about God from the [...]
Geometry: This is an equilateral trangle. What is geometry? The simplest geometric idea is the point, and then the line, the plane, and the solid. Shapes like circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles are flat, and we can think of [...]
Thales of Miletus might have watched plays in this theater at Miletus (before it had stone seats) Biography of Thales Thales was born in what's now Turkey, in the city [...]
Near where Pythagoras lived: Doric temple at Paestum, Italy Who was Pythagoras? Pythagoras lived in the 500s BC. He was one of the first Greek mathematical thinkers that we know about, after Thales. Who [...]
Greek mathematics: An Egyptian papyrus from about 100 AD which is a piece of one of Euclid's books Greek math: geometry not algebra Because people in ancient Greece had only very clumsy [...]
Diagram for proving the Pythagorean Theorem You can prove the Pythagorean Theorem for yourself, using the proof described on the Pythagorean Theorem page. Just get a square piece of paper, and [...]
Theater of Miletus, where Anaximander the mathematician lived Where was Anaximander from? Anaximander the mathematician was born about 610 BC in the Greek city of Miletus, in what is now Turkey. So [...]
Ancient Greek science: Greek doctor letting blood out of a patient because he believes in the four humors When did Greek science get started? By about 600 BC, ancient Greek people were getting [...]
