Thales of Miletus A brief history
The first thing I would like to say before I start this paper on Thales is that when dealing with ancient Greek mathemetitions, any "facts" you may uncover are really just educated guesses. The reason for this is, because all records back then were kept on cuneiform tablets. These tablets just did not hold up well over time, and were destroyed before anyone could really make a lasting, permanent record of his life and studies. (2) With this being said, let me share with you some of my findings on the Greek mathematition known as Thales of Miletus. (2) Thales of Miletus was a seventh century B.c. materialist philosopher as well as a great mathematicion. (1) His date of birth and date of death are guessed at between 540B.C. to around 620B.C. (2) This guess at his life time was based off of the 585B.C. eclipse. (2) This eclipse was used, because he was said to have predicted its arrival.(2) He was half Phoenician, and also considered the founding father of Greek mathematics by most Greek traditions.(4) He was not only the first person to receive credit for his mathematical discoveries, but was also considered the first of Greece's seven wise men.(2) The seven Wise Men were a group of Greek Philosoophers and mathemati
4. Hogben, Lancelot, Mathematics in the Making, Rathbone books limited, london: 1990 1. Aleksandrov, A.D., Komogorov, M.A, and Lavrent'ev, M.A.--- Mathematics it's content methods and meaning. Volume One. Dorset Press New York; 1990. 3. Paulos, alan B., Beyond Numeracy; Ruminations of a numbers man. Alfred A Knopf New York; 1991 cians who were considered the best in their field of study. (2) ONe common false belief is that he taught Pythegoras.(2) This was just not the case, because Pythegoras was born at least fifty years after Thales.(2) He was also the chief representative of the Ionian school of mathematics.(2) In his spare time he was rumored to have held one of many different types of jobs. Some of the jobs he might have held are: Making a fortune off of olive presses, being a salt merchant, a stargazer, a defender of celibacy, or a farsighted statesman.(2) Now that I have introduced him as a person, lets dive into more of his mathematics history and discoveries. He was really the first person to think of mathematics in terms of ideal notions clarified by the application of human reason, and isolate basic facts about mathematical notions and attempt to come up with less self-evident theorems by using logic alone.(3) He was also credited with bringint r
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