In the minds of many, Pythagoras —mostly known from high school math class— was a brilliant, serious mathematician, focused solely on the numbers and theorems. The lesser-known, more bizarre historical reality, is that Pythagoras was also the leader of a religious and philosophical cult-like society called the Pythagoreans.
The Pythagoreans were a mix of brilliant mathematical thinkers and highly dogmatic mystics. They believed that “all is number,” viewing numbers as fundamental spiritual and physical principles of the universe. Some of their stranger rules and beliefs included strict dietary rules —they were generally vegetarian, but had an infamous taboo against eating beans— and the shock of irrational numbers: when the concept of irrational numbers was discovered within the group, it apparently caused a profound philosophical crisis, as it challenged their core belief that everything could be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
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I liked the Terry Pratchett spoof of him who was constantly angry that pi wasn’t 3 🤣
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In the minds of many, Pythagoras —mostly known from high school math class— was a brilliant, serious mathematician, focused solely on the numbers and theorems. The lesser-known, more bizarre historical reality, is that Pythagoras was also the leader of a religious and philosophical cult-like society called the Pythagoreans.
The Pythagoreans were a mix of brilliant mathematical thinkers and highly dogmatic mystics. They believed that “all is number,” viewing numbers as fundamental spiritual and physical principles of the universe. Some of their stranger rules and beliefs included strict dietary rules —they were generally vegetarian, but had an infamous taboo against eating beans— and the shock of irrational numbers: when the concept of irrational numbers was discovered within the group, it apparently caused a profound philosophical crisis, as it challenged their core belief that everything could be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
I liked the Terry Pratchett spoof of him who was constantly angry that pi wasn’t 3 🤣
Stay away from the fava beans.