Greek Mathematics and Mathematician

GREEK MATHEMATICS AND
MATHEMATICIAN
(NUMERALS AND NUMBERS)
As the Greek empire began to spread its sphere of
influence into Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and beyond,
the Greeks were smart enough to adopt and adapt useful
elements from the societies they conquered. This was as
true of their mathematics as anything else, and they
adopted elements of mathematics from both the
Babylonians and the Egyptians. But they soon started
to make important contributions in their own right and,
for the first time, we can acknowledge contributions by
individuals.
By the Hellenistic period, the
Greeks had presided over one of the
most dramatic and
important revolutions in
mathematical thought of all time.
ATTIC OR HERODIANIC
NUMERALS
ATTIC OR HERODIANIC
NUMERALS
The ancient Greek numeral
system, known as Attic or
Herodianic numerals, was fully
developed by about 450 BCE, and in
regular use possibly as early as the 7th
Century BCE.
It was a base 10 system similar to the earlier
Egyptian one (and even more similar to the later
Roman system), with symbols for 1, 5, 10, 50, 100,
500 and 1,000 repeated as many times needed to
represent the desired number. Addition was done by
totalling separately the symbols (1s, 10s, 100s, etc)
in the numbers to be added, and multiplication was
a laborious process based on successive doublings
(division was based on the inverse of this process).
EXAMPLE:
THALES’ INTERCEPT
THEOREM
Thales, one of the Seven Sages of
Ancient Greece, who lived on the
Ionian coast of Asian Minor in the
first half of the 6th Century BCE, is
usually considered to have been the
first to lay down guidelines for the
abstract development of geometry,
although what we know of his work
(such as on similar and right
triangles)
elementary.
now seems quite THALES
He established Thales’ Theorem, whereby if a triangle is
drawn within a circle with the long side as a diameter of the
circle, then the opposite angle will always be a right angle (as
well as some other related properties derived from this).
He is also credited with another theorem, also known as

Thales’ Theorem or the Intercept Theorem, about the ratios
of the line segments that are created if two intersecting lines
are intercepted by a pair of parallels (and, by extension, the
ratios of the sides of similar triangles).
THALES’ INTERCEPT
THEOREM
The Intercept Theorem states
that if two intersecting lines are
cut by parallel lines, the line
segments cut by the parallel
lines from one of the lines are
proportional to the
corresponding line segments
cut by them from the other line.
THREE
GEOMETRIC
AL
PROBLEMS
THREE GEOMETRICAL
PROBLEMS
Three geometrical problems in particular, often referred to as the
Three Classical Problems, and all to be solved by purely geometric
means using only a straight edge and a compass, date back to the
early days of Greek geometry: “the squaring (or quadrature) of
the circle”, “the doubling (or duplicating) of the cube” and “the
trisection of an angle”. These intransigent problems were
profoundly influential on future geometry and led to many fruitful
discoveries, although their actual solutions (or, as it turned out, the
proofs of their impossibility) had to wait until the 19th Century.
THREE GEOMETRICAL
PROBLEMS
HIPPOCRATES
OF CHIOS
Hippocrates of Chios was one such Greek
mathematician who applied himself to these
problems during the 5th Century BCE.
His contribution to the “squaring the circle”
problem is known as the Lune of Hippocrates).
His influential book “The Elements”, dating to
around 440 BCE, was the first compilation of
the elements of geometry, and his work was an
important source for Euclid‘s later work.
ZENO’S
PARADOX OF
ACHILLES
AND THE
TORTOISE
ZENO’S PARADOX OF ACHILLES AND
THE TORTOISE
It was the Greeks who first grappled with the idea of infinity, such
as described in the well-known paradoxes attributed to the
philosopher Zeno of Elea in the 5th Century BCE.
The most famous of his paradoxes is that of Achilles and the
Tortoise, which describes a theoretical race between Achilles and a
tortoise. Achilles gives the much slower tortoise a head start, but by
the time Achilles reaches the tortoise’s starting point, the tortoise has
already moved ahead. By the time Achilles reaches that point, the
tortoise has moved on again, etc, so that in principle the swift
Achilles can never catch up with the slow tortoise.
ZENO’S PARADOX OF ACHILLES
AND THE TORTOISE
Paradoxes such as this one and Zeno’s so-called
Dichotomy Paradox are based on the infinite
divisibility of space and time, and rest on the idea
that a half plus a quarter plus an eighth plus a
sixteenth, etc, etc, to infinity will never quite equal
a whole.
The paradox stems, however, from the false
assumption that it is impossible to complete an
infinite number of discrete dashes in a finite time,
although it is extremely difficult to definitively
prove the fallacy.
The ancient Greek Aristotle was the
first of many to try to disprove the
paradoxes, particularly as he was a
firm believer that infinity could only
ever be potential and not real.
DEMOCR
ITUS
Democritus, most famous for his
prescient ideas about all matter being
composed of tiny atoms, was also a
pioneer of mathematics and geometry
in the 5th – 4th Century BCE.
He produced works with titles like
“On Numbers“, “On Geometrics“,
“On Tangencies“, “On Mapping” and
“On Irrationals“, although these
works have not survived.
He was among the first to observe that a
cone (or pyramid) has one-third the volume
of a cylinder (or prism) with the same base
and height.
 He is the first to have seriously considered
the division of objects into an infinite
number of cross-sections.
PYTHAGOR
AS OF
SAMOS
WHO WAS PYTHAGORAS?
It is sometimes claimed that we owe pure

mathematics to Pythagoras, and he is
often called the first “true” mathematician.
But, although his contribution was clearly
important, he nevertheless remains a
controversial figure.
The over-riding dictum of Pythagoras’s
school was “All is number” or “God is
number”, and the Pythagoreans
effectively practised a kind of
numerology or number-worship, and
considered each number to have its own
character and meaning.
For example, the number one was the generator
of all numbers; two represented opinion; three,
harmony; four, justice; five, marriage; six,
creation; seven, the seven planets or
“wandering stars”; etc.
Odd numbers were thought of as female and
even numbers as male.
The holiest number of all was
“Tetractys” or ten, a triangular
number composed of the sum of
one, two, three and four.
It is a great tribute to the
Pythagoreans’ intellectual
achievements that they deduced
the special place of the number 10
from an abstract mathematical
argument rather than from
something as mundane as
counting the fingers on two hands.
Pythagoras discovered that a complete system
of mathematics could be constructed, where
geometric elements corresponded with numbers,
and where integers and their ratios were all that
was necessary to establish an entire system of
logic and truth.
Pythagoras is mainly known for his famous

theorem, the Pythagorean Theorem.
The Pythagorean Theorem
He is mainly remembered for what has
become known as
Pythagoras’ Theorem (or the Pythagore
an Theorem)
: that, for any right-angled triangle, the
square of the length of the hypotenuse
(the longest side, opposite the right angle)
is equal to the sum of the square of the
other two sides (or “legs”).
Written as an equation: a2 + b2 = c2.
EXA
MPLE
MUSIC THEORY
Pythagoras is also credited with the
discovery that the intervals between
harmonious musical notes always have
whole number ratios.
For instance, playing half a length of a
guitar string gives the same note as the
open string, but an octave higher; a
third of a length gives a different but
harmonious note; etc
The mystical Pythagoras was so excited by
this discovery that he became convinced that
the whole universe was based on numbers,
and that the planets and stars moved according
to mathematical equations, which
corresponded to musical notes, and thus
produced a kind of symphony, the “Musical
Universalis” or “Music of the Spheres”.
PLATO – THE ATHENIAN
PHILOSOPHER
He founded his Academy in Athens in 387 BCE, where
he stressed mathematics as a way of understanding
He founded his Academy in Athens in 387 BCE, where he stressed mathematics as a way of
more about
understanding more reality.
about reality.
He is known as the “maker of mathematicians”, and his Academy boasted some of the most
He is mathematicians
prominent known asof the “maker
the ancient of mathematicians”,
world, including Eudoxus, Theaetetus and and
his Academy boasted some of the most prominent
Archytas.
mathematicians
In particular, he was convincedof
universe.
the
that geometry ancient
was world,
the key to unlocking including
the secrets of the
Eudoxus, Theaetetus and Archytas.

The sign above the Academy entrance read:
In
“Letparticular,
no-one ignorant he was convinced
of geometry enterthat
here”.geometry was the
key to unlocking the secrets of the universe.
The sign above the Academy entrance read:
“Let no-one ignorant of geometry enter
here”.
Plato the mathematician
is perhaps best known for
his identification of 5
regular symmetrical 3-
dimensional shapes,
which he maintained were
the basis for the whole
universe, and which
have become known as
the Platonic Solids.

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GREEK MATHEMATICS AND

He is also credited with another theorem, also known as

It is sometimes claimed that we owe pure

Pythagoras is mainly known for his famous

Eudoxus, Theaetetus and Archytas.

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