Article View: sci.misc
Article #35Re: A U.S. President and Pythagorean?
From: Gerald Edgar
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1992 15:30
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1992 15:30
20 lines
1556 bytes
1556 bytes
Garfield found a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. Of course, this was before he was President. The story says that he found the proof when he was a member of the House of Representatives, while doodling one day during a boring speech... The proof, known in the literature of the Pythagorean theorem as "General Garfield's Demonstration", was reprinted in the Mathematical Magazine, volume I, no. 1, page 7 (January 1882). It was published originally in a magazine article, in 1876 or 1877, but that reference is apparently unknown: a copy of it was pasted in the flyleaf of somebody's old geometry book, and so Garfield's proof is known today only because of that copy. -- Gerald A. Edgar Internet: edgar@mps.ohio-state.edu Department of Mathematics Bitnet: EDGAR@OHSTPY The Ohio State University telephone: 614-292-0395 (Office) Columbus, OH 43210 -292-4975 (Math. Dept.) -292-1479 (Dept. Fax)
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<1992Apr9.153025.16694@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!function.mps.ohio-state.edu!edgarReferences:
<1992Apr9.090734.1@scivax.stsci.edu>Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Newsgroups: sci.misc,sci.math,misc.wanted,misc.consumers,misc.education Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!function.mps.ohio-state.edu!edgar From: edgar@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Gerald Edgar) Subject: Re: A U.S. President and Pythagorean? Message-ID: <1992Apr9.153025.16694@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu> Sender: usenet@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu Organization: The Ohio State University, Dept. of Math. References: <1992Apr9.090734.1@scivax.stsci.edu> Distribution: na Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 15:30:25 GMT Lines: 20