-Theodor Adorno, “All would be well. However, the few ancient sources which describe this story either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g. The discovery of irrationality was so staggering, that no doubt Hippasus felt he had to tell somebody. Mathematicians in 7th Century B.C. Hippasos din Metaponte (sau Hippasus, în greaca veche: Ἵππασος) a fost un filozof al Greciei antice din secolul al V-lea î.Hr., ce a aparținut școlii pitagoreice. Hippasus of Eurytas was one of the heroes who went on the Kalydonian Boar Hunt.
These are numbers such as pi, e, the trigonometric functions, and natural logarithms. -Katherine Hepburn, “Horror is beyond the reach of psychology.” ( Log Out /  Pythagoras was also busy preaching vegetarianism and temperance, which were wildly unpopular with Greeks at the time, and eventually Pythagoras and his followers were persecuted, killed, or driven out of Greece. About a hundred years later, the Pythagoreans were busy maintaining the traditions, and attracted the attention of a young gentleman named Hippasus.

2 3 4. Plato in his Theaetetus,[25] describes how Theodorus of Cyrene (c. 400 BC) proved the irrationality of √3, √5, etc. The Roman epic poet Ovid and the historian Hygineus give the most description of him in the hunt. This is widely regarded as awfully inconsiderate of them, which is why we have largely ignored them for most of human history. Along comes Hippasus, party animal that he was, and in trying to inscribe a regular dodecahedron inside a sphere, happened across the existence of irrational numbers.

India may have been toying with the idea that irrational numbers existed, but the Indian early medieval age was largely characterized by regional warlords clobbering each other over the head, so employment of Indian mathematicians outside of the defense contracting industry was relatively limited. [19] Iamblichus gives a series of inconsistent reports. Hippasus of Metapontum, (flourished c. 500 bc), philosopher, early follower of Pythagoras, coupled by Aristotle with Heraclitus in identifying fire as the first element in the universe. -Charles Fort, “If only it were all so simple! -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” Lovecraft, “If the sleep of reason produces monsters, what does the sleep of unreason produce?” 330. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. “Hippasus, one of the Pythagoreans, is said to have divulged the theory of commensurable and incommensurable quantities to those unworthy to receive them, or for having revealed the method of inscribing in a sphere the dodecahedron, one of the five solid figures, and claiming the credit for this discovery for himself so that the other disciples not only expelled him from their common association, but built a tomb as for one who had passed from the human into another life, or another account is that the Divine Powers were so indignant that he perished in the sea” (Iamblichus, 1905, p31-32). Ghoulish Grudges: Do You Deserve to be Haunted? I se atribuie descoperirea existenței numerelor iraționale Viața. [12], Iamblichus says about the death of Hippasus, According to Iamblichus (ca. –Jerry Garcia, “You can’t create a monster, then whine when it stomps a few buildings.” [20], These stories are usually taken together to ascribe the discovery of irrationals to Hippasus, but whether he did or not is uncertain. Some writers have Hippasus making his discovery while on board a ship, as a result of which his Pythagorean shipmates toss him overboard;[30] while one writer even has Pythagoras himself "to his eternal shame" sentencing Hippasus to death by drowning, for showing "that √2 is an irrational number. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! up to √17, which implies that an earlier mathematician had already proved the irrationality of √2. Corrections? The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the gods for divulging this.

The bottom line is that subsequent generations of Pythagoreans took their numbers seriously. Answer. To us, used to gangster movies, this immediately suggests the proverbial “hollow-bottomed boat”, but tradition states that they expelled Hippasus and held a symbolic funeral for him.

"[31], This article is about the Greek philosopher.

It made for a nice, orderly, comprehensible universe. In Greek mythology, Hippasus or Hippasos (Ἴππασος) is the name of fourteen characters.. Hippasus, son of King Eurytus of Oechalia and one of the hunters of the Calydonian Boar. Dunne vs. the Volcano, Dreaming a Dream of Death: Mrs. Wilkie and Mr. Esdaile. After all, it kills you.”

It conceives itself as containing more. Nu se prea cunosc detalii despre viața sa. Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Before Plato and Aristotle became philosophical superstars, 6th Century B.C. The discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account.

They wanted to build cool stuff like the Acropolis. Pappus merely says that the knowledge of irrational numbers originated in the Pythagorean school, and that the member who first divulged the secret perished by drowning. The Life of Pythagoras. ( Log Out / 

Metapontum in Italy (Magna Graecia) is usually referred to as his birthplace,[4][5][6][7][8] although according to Iamblichus some claim Metapontum to be his birthplace, while others the nearby city of Croton.

Hippasus of Metapontum was a Pythagorean philosopher. Hippasus of Metapontum, (flourished c. 500 bc), philosopher, early follower of Pythagoras, coupled by Aristotle with Heraclitus in identifying fire as the first element in the universe. Se pare că a trăit pe la sfârșitul secolului al V-lea î.Hr. Not too shabby for the guy who’s theorem you had to prove a few hundred times in high school geometry. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. [29] The method is a proof by contradiction, or reductio ad absurdum, which shows that, if the diagonal of a square is assumed to be commensurable with the side, then the same number must be both odd and even. Irrational numbers can’t be represented as a simple fraction since they neither terminate nor repeat, such as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, Euler’s Number, the Golden Ratio, or √2. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the godsfor divulging this. Some traditions say that he was drowned after revealing a mathematical secret of the Pythagorean brotherhood. [26] Aristotle referred to the method for a proof of the irrationality of √2,[27] and a full proof along these same lines is set out in the proposition interpolated at the end of Euclid's Book X,[28] which suggests that the proof was certainly ancient. Some folks say all murder is irrational, and there may be some truth to this, as 5th Century Pythagorean cultist Hippasus of Metapontum, the man credited with the discovery of irrationality, mathematically speaking, is rumored to have been murdered for the crime of divulging the existence of irrational numbers.

2013-03-08 18:02:13 2013-03-08 18:02:13. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Throw in some irrational numbers that make it technically impossible to precisely solve a beautiful little equation like a2+b2=c2 to find the length of the hypotenuse (a triangle with two sides 1 unit long each, result in an irrational hypotenuse of √2) and obviously it’s a short distance to fire and brimstone falling from the sky, rivers and seas boiling, earthquakes, volcanos, the dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, and cats and dogs living together.
How did hippasus of metapontum die and when did he die? You put your life on the line with every proof. The real numbers include all the “rational numbers”, or any number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers (and that doesn’t result in a decimal portion that is non-repeating into infinity i.e. It can think and rethink itself and ourselves from any desired point outside the gravitational pull of the earth. Irrationality, by infinite reciprocal subtraction, can be easily seen in the Golden ratio of the regular pentagon. ( Log Out /  The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry ‘Monster!’ and looked behind him.” The progress of mathematics has been slow and painful over the centuries. Pythagoras wound up starving himself to death in Metapontum, Italy, but his followers carried on his traditions for a few more centuries. [29], In the hands of modern writers this combination of vague ancient reports and modern guesswork has sometimes evolved into a much more emphatic and colourful tale. "[5] According to one statement, Hippasus left no writings,[5] according to another he was the author of the Mystic Discourse, written to bring Pythagoras into disrepute. [22] Iamblichus clearly states that the drowning at sea was a punishment from the gods for impious behaviour. -Oscar Wilde, “Life is Hard. They might name a theorem after you and you will be remembered by future generations, but take note that Pythagoras himself sagely observed, “Reason is immortal, all else mortal”. 250-ca. ; Hippasus from the Pellene district of the Peloponnese, father of Actor, Iphitus, Asterion, Amphion, and Naubolus.The latter four are otherwise ascribed different parentage. Now what was all the fuss about? Which he did.