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Stonehenge Builders Used Pythagoras' Theorem 2,000 Years Before He Was Born (techtimes.com)
According to a new book entitled "Megalith," which was released on June 21 to coincide with summer solstice, ancient humans who designed Stonehenge followed Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before his birth, around 2500 B.C. The theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the other two squares on the triangle. TechTimes reports: [The theorem] was developed by ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who was born in 570 B.C. However, Stonehenge was assembled 2,000 years before his birth, around 2500 B.C. This theory suggests that these ancient humans were smarter than what people give them credit for. In order to use Pythagoras' theorem, they had to be really skilled at geometry.
"We think these people didn't have scientific minds but first and foremost they were astronomers and cosmologists," John Matineau, the editor of the book, told the Telegraph. "They were studying long and difficult to understand cycles and they knew about these when they started planning sites like Stonehenge."
"We think these people didn't have scientific minds but first and foremost they were astronomers and cosmologists," John Matineau, the editor of the book, told the Telegraph. "They were studying long and difficult to understand cycles and they knew about these when they started planning sites like Stonehenge."
That article is possibly the stupidest thing I have ever read in my life.
What would Benjamin Franklin have to say about the absurdity that Alaska, with less than a million inhabitants, has the same Senate power as California, a state with over 38 million people
He'd say, "Good". That's EXACTLY what the Senate was designed for... so that small states would be on an equal footing with the large states.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I'm sure that many early cultures were aware of the a^2 +b^2 = c^2 relationship.
What gives Pythagoras the credit is that he proved it.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
But it SAYS 18 inches right on the napkin!
Erm ignore that, it seems the second link in the summary has an actual article with real content. The first link starts out with 'what is stonehenge"...
I know an ancient Tamil formula that seems to be Pythagoras theorem at the first glance. "Make eight parts of the running length, and discard one part, add to it, half of the altitude. What you get is the hypotenuse". Instantly one notes, there is no quadratic term. It is a linear formula, so it is not a general Pythagoras theorem. It boils down to "when two sides of a right angled triangle is 4 and 3, the hypotenuse is 5".
Nothing unusual. All they needed was an easy way to construct the right angle. That is all. The simplest way is the make a lasso with a rope ten units long, and mark off 3 feet and 4 feet, you can form a right angled triangle. If you make the rope hundreds of feet long, the angle will be accurate enough for the ancient construction techniques.
Egyptians had been using the 3-4-5 right angled triangles to demarcate land holdings after Nile floodings 1500 years before Pythagoras.
For aligning ancient temples, pyramids and other structures with East/West directions, the technique was ridiculously simple. Plant a pole, and mark the tip's shadow location at sunrise on equinox day and again the location at sunset. Line joining these two points is East-West. Use the 3-4-5 triangle from a 10 unit long loop of a rope and mark off North and South. Use plumb bob for vertical. You have a clean three axes Cartesian coordinate axes marked on the ground.
Dont get me wrong. I am amazed they can identify the equinox and solstice days, that they can predict eclipses, form calendars, They were as intelligent and smart as any modern human being. 5000 years is, but a blink of an eye, in evolutionary time scale. But let us also note that what we mean by Pythogoras theorem today is vastly different what they were using back then.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Stonehenge contains right triangles; the right triangles obey the Pythagorean theorem; therefore whoever built Stonehenge must have known the Pythagorean theorem.
But ALL right triangles obey the Pythagorean theorem (which is the whole point of the theorem), so this would be true whether the people who built them knew about the theorem or not.
The new book is by Hugh Newman and Robin Heath. Heath is a teacher of astrology. There is a difference between using the Pythagoras theorem in examples or realizing that there is a theorem. This difference is often confused. The Babylonians also used the theorem in examples. I have not read the book, nor seen any new evidence in the articles about the appearance of the book. There is a book already out since 2013 Duncan Lunan called Megalith. Lunan already mentioned the use of Pythagoras in his book. I would like to see what is the new evidence coming forward in the new book.
I don't see any proof of the theorem in there. What is displayed on that page is a special case. Just like Fermat's last theorem was proven in 1995 but that it holds true for the special case of n=4 was proven already by Fermat.
Ezekiel 23:20
The base of an igloo, which is essentially a circle, follows the formula Circumference = pi * Diameter.
After building several hundred igloos, I am sure an Inuit builder would have empirical knowledge that it takes roughly three times as many steps to go around a circle than it takes to walk the diameter. In this way, the Inuit builder would have a very practical understanding of pi without possibly ever defining pi.
Children may use 3-4-5 triangles in wood shop before ever learning about Pythagoras's Theorem.
Some woodworkers have a very practical understanding of specific right triangles without really thinking the maths through.
I would put the Stonehenge builders in the same lot. Lots of empirical knowledge, but maybe less so on the modern-day mathematical definitions.
No calculations necessary. Pure geometry with simple means.