Blog Post #8 – Was Pythagoras Chinese?

I’m always skeptical of how historical facts are presented. While history has factual events and truths, the truth can be painted in different lights. For example, both Canadian and American students learn about the War of 1812. This war was fought between Canada (before it was officially Canada) and the United States, at a time when manifest destiny was a prominent concept. Manifest destiny was the idea that White Americans were destined to settle across the entire North American region. Canadians didn’t take a liking to this idea, and war broke out. Most Americans today believe that Americans won the war, and that is what American students are taught in their high school history classes. This is in fact false – hence why Canada is still its own country! The following link is an article in the National Post that describes how an American Scholar admitting Canada won the war is a “rare admission.” https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-won-the-war-of-1812-u-s-historian-admits






A fun fact about the War of 1812 is that Canadians burned down the Presidential Mansion in 1814, which is where the President resided. Afterwards a new building was constructed, which is known today as the White House! This preamble (which I admit is completely unrelated to math history!) describes how the truth of history can get lost over time. Therefore, it is completely unsurprising to me that Pythagoras was most likely Chinese. It isn’t unfathomable that Europeans took credit for the work of the Chinese. I think it is important for students to understand where these intellectual findings and advancements came from. Otherwise, our impressions of the facts will be misinformed. For example, many people think that Europeans were far more advanced from an intellectual standpoint because of all the innovations and discoveries made. If Pythagoras was actually Chinese, what else are we misinformed about? In terms of the naming of the theorems, I like that credit is given to those who created them by using their name in the title.