Pythagoras facts for kids

Pythagoras
Bust of Pythagoras of Samos in the Capitoline Museums, Rome
Born	c. 570 BC Samos
Died	c. 495 BC (aged around 75) either Croton or Metapontum
Era	Ancient Greek philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Pythagoreanism
Main interests	Ethics Mathematics Metaphysics Music Mysticism Politics Religion
Notable ideas	Communalism Metempsychosis Musica universalis Attributed ideas: Five climactic zones Five regular solids Proportions Pythagorean theorem Pythagorean tuning Sphericity of the Earth Vegetarianism
Influences Thales Anaximander Pherecydes Themistoclea
Influenced Plato and, through him, all of Western philosophy

Pythagoras of Samos was a famous Greek mathematician and philosopher (c. 570 – c. 495 BC). He is known best for the proof of the important Pythagorean theorem, which is about right triangles. He started a group of mathematicians, called the Pythagoreans, who worshiped numbers and lived like monks. He was an influence for Plato.

He had a great impact on mathematics, theory of music and astronomy. His theories are still used in mathematics today. He was one of the greatest thinkers of his time.

Pythagoras was born in Samos, a little island off the western coast of Asia Minor. There is not much information about his life. He was said to have had a good childhood. Growing up with two or three brothers, he was well educated. He did not agree with the government and their schooling, so he moved to Croton and set up his own cult (little society) of followers under his rule. His followers did not have any personal possessions, and they were all vegetarians. Pythagoras taught them all, and they had to obey strict rules.

Graphical demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem

Some say he was the first person to use the term philosophy. Since he worked very closely with his group, the Pythagoreans, it is sometimes hard to tell his works from those of his followers.

Religion was important to the Pythagoreans. They swore their oaths by "1+2+3+4" (which equals 10). They also believed the soul is immortal and goes through a cycle of rebirths until it can become pure. They believed that these souls were in both animal and plant life.

His beliefs

Pythagoras' most important belief was that the physical world was mathematical and that numbers were the real reality.

1. that at its deepest level, reality is mathematical in nature,
2. that philosophy can be used for spiritual purification,
3. that the soul can rise to union with the divine,
4. that certain symbols have a mystical significance, and
5. that all brothers of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.

Pythagorean theorem

Pythagoras is most famous for his theorem to do with right triangles. He said that the length of the longest side of the right angled triangle called the hypotenuse (C) squared would equal the area of the other sides squared. And so (a x a) + (b x b) = (c x c) was born. There are many different proofs for this Pythagorean theorem.

Images for kids

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  Bust of Pythagoras, Vatican

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  A scene at the Chartres Cathedral shows a philosopher, on one of the archivolts over the right door of the west portal at Chartres, which has been attributed to depict Pythagoras.

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  Croton on the southern coast of Magna Graecia (Southern Italy), to which Pythagoras ventured after feeling overburdened in Samos.

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  Excerpt from Philolaus Pythagoras book, (Sir William Smith, 1870)

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  A visual proof of the Pythagorean theorem

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  Medieval woodcut showing Pythagoras with bells and other instruments in Pythagorean tuning

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  Pythagoras, the man in the center with the book, teaching music, in Raphael's The School of Athens

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  Pythagoreans celebrate sunrise, painting by Fyodor Bronnikov(1827–1902)

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  Pythagoras, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle

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  Pythagoras, depicted on a 3rd-century coin