Subject: Re: [HM] "President Garfield's Proof"
From: Julio Gonzalez Cabillon (jgc@adinet.com.uy)
Date: Mon Jan 17 2000 - 18:28:39 EST
Dear Clark,
At 10:38 AM 14/01/2000 -0500, you wrote (inter alia):
:
: A Garfield biographer responded to my inquiry that he has never
: encountered any direct support for "Garfield's Proof", and
: "... considering that G never mentions the proof or even shows much
: interest in geometry in his voluminous boyhood letters and diaries,
: I have my doubts."
:
: Clark Kimberling
FWD MESSAGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 16:03:18 -0500
From: Amy Rupert
To: Julio Gonzalez Cabillon
Cc: Rebecca Spencer, Karen Gorss Benko
Organization: Williams College Library
Mr. Cabillon,
James A. Garfield studied Greek and Mathematics at Williams College.
He did indeed provide a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. He referred
to it as Pons Asinorum. His proof was first published in The Journal
of Education 3:161, in 1876. In a journal entry dated March 7, 1876,
Garfield states that during a visit to Keene, VT he showed his proof
to Professor Quimby who was Professor of Mathematics at Dartmouth Univ.
There is an article by Malcolm Graham titled "President Garfield and
the Pythagorean Theorem" that was published in Mathematics Teacher,
Dec. 1976, p. 686-687. The article gives a brief description of the
proof.
Regards,
Amy Rupert
Acting College Archivist/Special Collections Librarian
Williams College, Williamstown MA 01267
END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best regards,
Julio Gonzalez Cabillon
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