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Fields Medal Winner Manjul Bhargava On the Pythagorean Theorem Controversy

Posted by timothy on from the ok-but-it's-fun-to-say-pythagorean dept.

prajendran writes There were a lot of controversies generated at the Indian Science Congress earlier this month, including claims of ancient aircraft in India, the use of plastic surgery there, and ways to divine underground water sources using herbal paste on the feet. One argument that could be tested using some form of evidence was the assertion by Science Minister Harsh Vardhan that the Pythagorean theorem was discovered in India. Manjul Bhargava, a Princeton University professor of mathematics and a Fields Medal winner describes why the question is not defined well.

5 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Divergent creation theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It could have been created in both places, it being a relatively simple law of mathematics that anyone pondering triangles is bound to discover soon enough.

    There are other examples of things being invented in two separate places at roughly the same time. Why the need for bragging rights? Let the evidence do that.

    1. Re: Divergent creation theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Why the need for bragging rights?"

      Because humans are petty little prideful bitches who use nationalism to compensate for insecurities and a lack of any real sense of self worth. This is the paleo-mathematical version of "whose dick is bigger".

  2. Does it really matter now? by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pythagorean theorem was discovered in India

    Nobody's going to change the name of it now, and there's no copyright royalties to be had on it.

  3. Uh-huh. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If someone else had discovered this theorem, it would have a different name -- unless there's an Indian named "Pythagoras" -- so checkmate Science Minister Harsh Vardhan.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. Re: Umm, no. by iluvcapra · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The USA was a major force in dismantling colonialization. The exceptions to this seem to have been through the involvement of Wall Street anglophiles (or just plain agents of the British) "

    Hmm. James Monroe, Teddy Roosevelt, William McKinley, William Randolph Hearst, General Pershing and Commodore Perry, all Anglophiles...

    Ask the Spanish-speakers of the Western Hemisphere about the US commitment to anti-colonialism.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.