Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher. Outstanding Greek mathematicians and their achievements

The ancient Greeks made a great contribution to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics. Other nations at that time also had a certain amount of knowledge. But if the Egyptians and the Babylonians were content with already open and explored areas, the Greeks went even further. They did not stop there and open new horizons in different spheres of life.

Mathematics in Ancient Greece

This science is one of the oldest and most in demand. Of course, the Greeks contributed to the development of culture and geography, logic and economics. Their philosophical school was so developed that it still surprises contemporaries with statements and discoveries. But mathematics has a separate niche in this complex system of scientific knowledge.

Many achievements in arithmetic are due to the discussions that were so popular with the Greeks. People gathered in the square, argued and thus came to the only correct decision. "In a dispute, truth is born" - this dogma has come down to us from that time.

Any ancient Greek mathematician used honor and respect. The deduced theorems and formulas, difficultly understood by ordinary people, lifted him to the top of the pedestal, to the ranks of other great minds. The development of mathematics as a science is largely due to Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid and other personalities whose works and discoveries form the basis of the modern course of algebra and geometry in schools and universities.

Pythagoras and his school

This is an ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher, politician, social and religious figure. He was born approximately in 580 BC on the island of Samos, as a result of which the people called him Samos. According to legend, Pythagoras was a very handsome and handsome man. He never tired of learning everything new and unknown, his education was truly elite. The young man studied not only at home, but also in India, Egypt and Babylon.

Pythagoras, an ancient Greek mathematician, patronized the slaveholders and aristocracy. An idealist to the core, in Croton he founded his own school, which was both a religious and a political structure. A clear organization of everyday life, strict rules and canons - its main features. For example, members of the community could not own private property, adhere to a vegetarian diet, and pledged not to reveal to outsiders the teachings of their teacher.

When democracy came to Croton, Pythagoras and his followers fled to Metapont. But the popular uprising raged in this city. In one of the fights, the 90-year-old mathematician died. With him ceased to exist and his famous school.

Discoveries of Pythagoras

It is known for certain that it is his authorship that describes the description of integers, their properties and proportions. He was also one of the first scientists who argued that the Earth is round, that the planets have not such a trajectory of movement as the stars. All these ideas are put in the basis of the famous heliocentric teachings of Copernicus. Since the whole life of the scientist was surrounded by a secret, not many interesting facts about his activity have come down to our days. Some doubt that it was he who proved the famous theorem. According to some information, it was known by many other ancient peoples long before the birth of a mathematician.

Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician possessed a multitude of abilities, and not only in the field of exact sciences. His name and activities are shrouded in myths and legends, as well as mysticism. It was believed that Pythagoras controls the spirits from the afterlife, understands the language of animals, communicates with them, sets the flight of birds the direction he needs, knows how to predict the future. He was also credited with witchcraft skills.

Archimedes: the main works

This is one of the most outstanding representatives of that era, a famous scientist, philosopher, mathematician and inventor. He was born in 287 BC in Syracuse. In this small town he lived almost all his life, here he wrote his famous treatises and experienced new mechanisms. His father was the court astronomer Phidias, so the training of Archimedes was at the highest level. He had access to the best library of the time, in the reading rooms which he spent more than one day.

Several mathematical works of the scientist have survived to this day. Conditionally they can be divided into three main groups.

1. Works devoted to the volumes and areas of curvilinear bodies and figures. They contain many proved theorems.
2. Geometric analysis of hydrostatic and static problems. This research is about the balance of figures, about the position of the body in the water and so on.
3. Other mathematical work. For example, about the calculation of grains of sand, the mechanical proof of theorems.

Archimedes died during the capture of Syracuse by Roman troops. He was so carried away by the drawing of a new geometric problem that he did not notice the warrior who came from behind. The soldier killed the scientist, not knowing that the commander gave the order to save the life of the famous mathematician and philosopher.

Archimedes' contribution to the development of exact sciences

Every child is familiar with this outstanding figure from school. Who is he, an ancient Greek mathematician, who exclaimed "Eureka"? The answer to this question is simple: it is Archimedes. According to legend, the king instructed him to find out whether his crown or jeweler had been made of pure gold, diluting it with other metals. Thinking about this task, Archimedes lay down in a bath filled with water. And then it occurred to him an amazing discovery: the amount of liquid that overflows the edge of the bath is equal to the volume of water displaced by his body. Having made this conclusion, he shouted to all of us the famous word "eureka". Ancient Greek mathematician jumped out of the bath with a cry and ran home, in which his mother gave birth, hurrying to write down her discovery.

In addition, Archimedes, two thousand years before the discovery of the integrals, was able to calculate the area of the parabolic segment. He revealed the number "pi" to the world, proving that the ratio of the diameter of a circle and the length of its circumference is always the same for any such geometric figure. He created the so-called Archimedes screw - the prototype of modern air and ship screws. Among his achievements are throwing and lifting machines. The secret of creating his "incendiary mirror", with the help of which enemy ships were destroyed, is still not revealed by modern researchers.

Euclid

Most of his time he worked on musical works, revealed the secrets of mechanics and physics, he studied astronomy. But he devoted some of his work to mathematics: he brought to his mind several proofs and theorems. His contribution to the development of this science is difficult to overestimate, since Euclid's work became the basis for other scientists who lived many centuries later.

What is the name of the ancient Greek mathematician who wrote a well-known mathematical collection of "Elements" consisting of 15 books? Of course, Euclid. He managed to formulate the basic propositions of geometry, proved important theorems: the sum of the angles of a triangle and the theorem of Pythagoras. Also his name is associated with the doctrine of the construction of regular polyhedra, which every young mathematician admires today in the lessons of geometry. Euclid opened the method of exhaustion. He was adopted by Newton and Leibniz, discovering the methods of calculus: integral and differential.

Thales

This ancient Greek mathematician was born around 625 BC. For a long time he lived in Egypt and closely communicated with the ruler of this country, King Amazis. The legend says that one day he astonished Pharaoh, measuring the height of the pyramid only by the size of its shadow.

Thales is considered the ancestor of Greek science, one of the seven sages who changed the basics of knowledge. Historians believe that Thales was the first to prove the basic theorems of geometry. For example, the angle inscribed in the semicircle is always straight, the diameter divides the circle into two identical parts, in the isosceles triangle the angles at the base are equal, all the vertical angles are identical, and so on.

Thales derived a formula according to which the triangles will always be the same if they have the same face and the angles adjacent to it. He learned to determine the distance to ships floating in the distance with conditional triangles. In addition, he made a couple of discoveries in astronomical science, determining the exact time of solstices and equinoxes. He also was the first to accurately calculate the duration of the year.

Eratosthenes

This is a fairly versatile figure. He was fond of exploring space, geographic discoveries, exploring speech, language and historical events. In the sphere of algebra and geometry, he is known to us as an ancient Greek mathematician who made an opening in the system of prime numbers. He created the "Sieve of Eratosthenes", an interesting method, which until now is studied in schools. Thanks to it, you can filter out prime numbers from a common row. Figures are not deleted, as today, but pierced in the general figure. Hence the name - "sieve".

Eratosthenes was able to independently design mesolabia - an instrument for solving on the basis of the laws of the mechanics of the Delo task of doubling the cube. He was the first to measure the Earth. Having counted the length of a part of the earth's meridian, he deduced the circumference of the planet - 39,960 kilometers. Mistaken only at some insignificant 300 kilometers. Eratosthenes is indeed a notable figure of that time, without his achievements mathematics could not exist in his usual form.

Heron

This ancient Greek mathematician lived in the first century BC. The data are approximate, since there is very little evidence of his life to this day. It is known that Geron was fond of the laws of physics, mechanics, appreciated the achievements of engineering science. He was the first to create automatic doors, a puppet theater, a sail turbine, an ancient "taximeter" - a road measuring device, an automatic and a self-loading crossbow.

Much of his work was devoted to mathematics. He derived new geometric formulas, developed methods for calculating geometric figures. Heron created the famous formula, called his name, with which you can calculate the area of the triangle, if you know the length of all its sides. After himself, he left many manuscripts, in which not only his works were displayed, but also the research of other scientists. And this is his greatest merit. Thanks to these records, we now know about Archimedes, Pythagoras and other famous mathematicians, who became symbols of that era and glorified Ancient Greece throughout the ancient world.