Article contents
Irrational thoughts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2016
Extract
This number arises naturally, of course, as the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs of length 1. Notoriously, √2 was found to be irrational by the Pythagoreans in around 500 BC. Their mathematics and philosophy was based upon natural numbers and small number ratios, and thus this discovery would have been very troubling: the Pythagoreans wouldn’t be the only ones to react badly to the imposition of the irrational.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2004
References
- 1
- Cited by