The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History

by Eli Maor (Author)

11 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0691125268

ISBN-10: 0691125260

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

More Buying Choices

11 New from $7.99 26 Used from $3.40

37 used & new from $3.40

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

By any measure, the Pythagorean theorem is the most famous statement in all of mathematics, one remembered from high school geometry class by even the most math-phobic students. Well over four hundred proofs are known to exist, including ones by a twelve-year-old Einstein, a young blind girl, Leonardo da Vinci, and a future president of the United States. Here--perhaps for the first time in English--is the full story of this famous theorem.

Although attributed to Pythagoras, the theorem was known to the Babylonians more than a thousand years before him. He may have been the first to prove it, but his proof--if indeed he had one--is lost to us. Euclid immortalized it as Proposition 47 in his Elements, and it is from there that it has passed down to generations of students. The theorem is central to almost every branch of science, pure or applied. It has even been proposed as a means to communicate with extraterrestrial beings, if and when we discover them. And, expanded to four-dimensional space-time, it plays a pivotal role in Einstein's theory of relativity.

In this book, Eli Maor brings to life many of the characters that played a role in the development of the Pythagorean theorem, providing a fascinating backdrop to perhaps our oldest enduring mathematical legacy.

The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Eli Maor

118

Paperback
Eli Maor

9

Hardcover
Julian Havil

21

Hardcover
$24.64
Eli Maor

18

Paperback
$31.48
Hal Hellman

4

Hardcover
Robert Kaplan

13

Hardcover
$25.00

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (June 10, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691125260
ISBN-13: 978-0691125268
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #943,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #448 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Geometry
- #756 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > History
- #892 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > Geometry & Topology

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 star		55%
4 star		18%
3 star		9%
2 star		18%
1 star		0%

See all 11 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Probably the World's Best-Known Theorem

By Timothy Haugh VINE VOICE on September 24, 2007

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Eli Maor is a fine mathematician who has produced some wonderful books on math topics for a general--well, let me say, educated--readership. His book, Trigonometric Delights, is my favorite. It is very interesting and engaging. I want to say "for an educated reader" again, though it seems rather redundant. Why would anyone who didn't know anything about trig and have an interest in the subject even bother to pick up the book? Still, as someone who spent more than ten years in high school math classrooms, I also found his work useful to interest and inspire my students (and myself).

Since the class I taught most often was geometry, I was very happy to see this book on the Pythagorean theorem. I have to admit, as an avid reader on the subject, I was familiar with much of what's here; particularly, the historical development and the more "Euclidean" applications of the theorem. On the other hand, he developed some proofs and problems I hadn't seen before which I found quite interesting.

Overall, however, I didn't find this book quite as engaging as some of his other work. I got the feeling he started off wanted to write a book that would have more universal appeal than some of his other titles. I mean, after all, nearly everyone knows what the Pythagorean theorem is, or has at least heard of it. But there wasn't nearly enough of the "simple" stuff and the last half of the book really goes quite far afield into mathematics without which someone without a pretty decent background in the subject will have a difficult time; particularly since the development is rather sparse in what feels like an aborted effort to keep things simple.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

Finally!! A book that deals exclusively with the history of one of the most beautiful and most recognized math equations!!

By STEPHEN PLETKO on October 11, 2008

Format: Hardcover

XXXXX

"To this day, the theorem of [Greek mathematician] Pythagoras [which states that the square of a right-angled triangle's longest side or hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, written in the language of mathematics as (c^2 = a^2 + b^2) or, more commonly, (a^2 + b^2 = c^2)] remains the most important single theorem in the whole of mathematics. That seems like a bold and extraordinary thing to say, yet it is not extravagant; because what Pythagoras established is a fundamental characterization of the space in which we move, and it is the first time that it is translated to numbers...In fact, the numbers that compose right-angled triangles [called Pythagorean Triples such as (3,4,5), (28, 45, 53) and (65, 72, 97)] have been proposed as messages which we might send out to planets in other star systems a test for the existence of rational life there."

The above quotation is found in this fascinating book authored by history of mathematics professor and author Eli Maor. (Note that the above quotation was not said by Maor.) It catches the importance of this deceptively simple theorem, a theorem children's writer Lewis Carroll (who was also a mathematician) called "dazzlingly beautiful."

What did I learn from this book? Answer: there's a lot more to the Pythagorean theorem than (a^2 + b^2 = c^2)!! Maor may be the first author who has examined all the mathematics, history of mathematics, and physics books and collected just the material directly and indirectly related to the Pythagorean theorem.

The result is that Maor has brought the long history of the Pythagorean theorem back to life.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

20 of 28 people found the following review helpful

Not as exciting as e: the story of a number

By Rabid Rodney on November 11, 2007

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I loved e: the story of a number, both the story and the mathematics in it. But for some reason this book does not catch the same spirit. It doesn't have the exciting thread of a story that makes you want to turn to the next page, and the many different proofs make it feel like it's a patchwork of items forcing itself to support the topic rather than a natural inspiring thread that helps you see the growth in the mathematics. I found it disappointing.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

So worth the purchase!

By Jess LA on June 5, 2014

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This book was so worth the purchase! I purchased it for my SNHU (online) class where I had to write a no-less-than-ten-page paper for my Math class, and this book definitely had all the answers that I was supposed to answer for this paper! I love the fact that this little book, helped me get an A+ on my paper and overall in my class! So going to have my brother use it when he has trouble answering the Pythagorean Theorem!

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Interesting and fun, a lot of math history connections ...

By Jeffrey L. Cooper on November 21, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Eli Maor always turns in an excellent effort. I like wide ranging treatment of this one theorem. It's fun in my opinion and connects some history together for people like myself who do not have an extensive math background.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Four Stars

By Michael Aicega Jr on April 10, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

ITEM AS DESCRIBED

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

See all 11 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Most Recent Customer Reviews

I like books even bad book is better than no book

Reading such book it reminds me time when Issac Assimov was manufacturing inteligence. Reading books is easier than write them. Read more

Published on September 21, 2010 by Z. Hanzlik

Only 2500 years old!

There are many books popularizing Mathematics. In order to fascinate and impress the layman
they mostly take results and theorems from number theory, Mersenne primes, Fermat... Read more

Published on September 16, 2010 by Dimitrios Betsis

Christmas gift

I purchased this book for my husband as a gift and he enjoyed the read. It is always difficult to find exactly the correct book for him ... and this time I did it! Read more

Published on February 3, 2010 by Karen K. Gagne

The Univerisal Story of the Pythagorean theorem+

As a social history book,you will probably be overwhelmed by the math formulas.As a mathmetical history book,you will be impressed by the story of this classical theorem. Read more

Published on March 21, 2009 by Magickal Merlin

Behold the Book!

The Pythagorean Theorem could rightfully be called the 'Crown Jewel of Mathematics'. For from its truths and intellectual spawn come all the wonders of our modern word--high rises,... Read more

Published on June 22, 2007 by J. Sparks