A Conversation for Ask h2g2
Pythagoras
RaL Started conversation Oct 4, 2000
Does anyone know some interessting facts not to commonly known
about greek mathematician Pythagoras and his society?
I'm writing an essay about him and could use some help.
/RaL
Pythagoras
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Oct 4, 2000
Pythagoreans
Didn't eat beans
They believed it was wrong to eat the souls of the dead. Dead people's souls are reincarnated as either animals or beans.
They wore a special symbol of a 5-pointed star (pentagram) inscribed in a pentagon on their hats. This was a secret symbol of membership of the brotherhood, as some pretty advanced geometry was required to draw it.
They believed that whole numbers were perfect and that all numbers could be expressed as one whole number divided by another. When they discovered a proof that this was not so, they hushed it up because they couldn't stand being proved wrong.
Pythagoras
Olli Posted Oct 4, 2000
Read "The man who loved only numbers" its not about pythagoras, but it does contain anecdotes about his quirks
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Pythagoras
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