Subject: Re: [HM] "President Garfield's Proof"
From: Karen Dee Michalowicz (KarenDM@aol.com)
Date: Sun Jan 16 2000 - 20:52:06 EST
In a message dated 01/16/2000 2:29:09 PM, Tom M. Apostol writes:
> In my view this proof is not essentially different from the ancient
> Chinese proof, and it has gained notoriety only because of Garfield's
> name.
This is when we need some experts replying. Frank Swetz is one. Are
there others out there? While Garfield's proof may look like a form
of an ancient Chinese Proof (which one?), are we sure that Garfield was
aware of the other proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, especially Chinese
and Indian. The only Chinese Proof that I am familiar with appears in
the Chinese text Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths
of Heaven (c600BC) specific to the 3-4-5 right triangle. It looks a lot
like Bhaskara's Proof (1150AD). Neither look like Garfield's. But, I'm
only an amateur historian.
Karen Dee Michalowicz
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Sun Jan 16 2000 - 21:21:24 EST