[UA] Pythagoreans

[Edward Perkins]

From: Michael Sands <michael.sands at generic.gen.nz>

> It's not just a rumour - they were. Pythagoras' teachings were as much
> religious as mathematical.
>
> I heard an (unsubstantiated) story that they put a member to death for
> believing in the heresy of fractions...

IIRC, they all had to swear an oath not to reveal the existence of
irrational numbers, like pi or root 2. They were perfectly ok with
fractions, but you can't accurately represent an irrational number with a
finite fraction. It kind of upset their sensibilities, and they thought the
public couldn't handle it, so they kept them secret.

I think.

-Ed.



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