1. EUCLID (322-275 BC) Greece/Egypt
He founded the school
of mathematics at the great university of Alexandria. He was the first to prove
that there are infinitely many prime numbers; he stated and proved the Unique
Factorization Theorem and he devised Euclid's algorithm for computing
gcd. Although notions of trigonometry were not in
use, Euclid's theorems include some closely related to the Laws of Sines and
Cosines. Euclid ranks #14 on Michael Hart's
famous list of the Most Influential Persons in History. The Elements
introduced the notions of axiom and theorem was used as a textbook for 2000
years and in fact is still the basis for high school geometry, making Euclid
the leading mathematics teacher of all time. Some think his best inspiration was
recognizing that the Parallel Postulate must be an axiom rather than a theorem. 2. ARCHIMEDES (287-212 BC) Greek domain
Archimedes is universally acknowledged to be the greatest of ancient
mathematicians. He studied at Euclid's school (probably after Euclid's death),
but his work far surpassed the works of Euclid.
Archimedes made
advances in number theory, algebra, and analysis, but is most renowned for his
many theorems of plane and solid geometry. He was first to prove Heron's formula
for the area of a triangle. One of his most
remarkable and famous geometric results was determining the area of a parabolic
section, for which he offered two independent proofs, one using his Principle
of the Lever, the other using a geometric series. His original
achievements in physics include the principles of leverage, the first law of
hydrostatics, and inventions like the compound pulley, the hydraulic screw, and
war machines. Archimedes proved that the volume of a sphere
is two-thirds the volume of a circumscribing cylinder. He requested that a
representation of such a sphere and cylinder be inscribed on his tomb. Archimedes discovered formulae for the volume and surface area of a sphere,
and may even have been first to notice and prove the simple relationship between
a circle's circumference and area. For these reasons, π is often called
Archimedes' constant. Although Newton may have been the most important
mathematician, and Gauss the greatest theorem prover, it is widely accepted that
Archimedes was the greatest genius who ever lived. Yet, Hart omits him
altogether from his list of Most Influential Persons: Archimedes was simply
too far ahead of his time to have great historical significance. 3. PYTHAGORAS (570-495 BC) Samos
.While the theorem that now bears his name was known and previously utilized by the Babylonians and Indians, he, or his students, are often said to have constructed the first proof. It must, however, be stressed that the way in which the Babylonians handled Pythagorean numbers implies that they knew that the principle was generally applicable, and knew some kind of proof, which has not yet been found in the cuneiform sources. Because of the secretive nature of his school and the custom of its students to attribute everything to their teacher, there is no evidence that Pythagoras himself worked on or proved this theorem. For that matter, there is no evidence that he worked on any mathematical or meta-mathematical problems. The earliest known mention of Pythagoras's name in connection with the theorem occurred five centuries after his death, in the writings of Cicero and Plutarch.
Raihana Aiman
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