Pythagorean Theorem Found on Clay Tablet 1k Years Older Than Pythagoras

Re:Pythagorean Theorem Found on Clay Tablet 1k Years Older T... by geraneum on Thursday October 05, 2023 @01:14AM (#37775117)

From the article:

> Pythagoras is immortally linked to the discovery and proof of a theorem that bears his name – even though there is no evidence of his discovering and/or proving the theorem.

Simply quoting. It seems like

> Greek definitely did

is not a universally held belief.

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Re:Pythagorean Theorem Found on Clay Tablet 1k Years Older T... by saithound on Thursday October 05, 2023 @01:23AM (#37775160)

Your quote from the article does not suggest what you seem to think it suggests.

The Greeks definitely were able to prove the Pythagorean theorem, and the Greeks definitely though Pythagoras specifically knew how to prove it: e.g. Proclus II states this in writing explicitly, as does Euclid 300 years later, and numerous ancient sources inbetween. It would be hard for this not to be the consensus. We can't know if Pythagoras really did, simply because we have no surviving writings directly from Pythagoras - as I stated explicitly in my previous post.

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Re:Pythagorean Theorem Found on Clay Tablet 1k Years Older T... by geraneum on Thursday October 05, 2023 @02:15AM (#37775414)

You are actually right. You didn’t claim that the Greek did it first and that is what I doubted in the first place. I misread your comment.

That fact that the Greek could prove the theorem at some point is not unlikely even without evidence. It’s as likely as others doing it well before them.

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