# arrow_back What led to the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem ?

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What led to the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem ?

The theorem is often credited to the greek mathematician Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BC) even if there aren´t any proof that he was the first one that proved the theorem.  The pythagorean theorem where also known by Babylonian and Chinese mathematicians before Pythagoras. It is not known whether the theorem were discovered once or many times in different places.

The history of the theorem is also connected to the discovery of pythagorean triples which consists of three positive integers such that c2=a2+b2. The three integers 3, 4 and 5 is a well known pythagorean triple because 52=32+42. Pythagorean triples were discovered by the babylonians, from 2000 to 1786 BC, even though they never mentioned any triangles.

Pythagoras or the disciples to him constructed the first known algebraic proof of the theorem and famous writers such as Plutarch and Ciceron acclaimed him for discovering this proof. Therefore this beautiful connection between the sides in a right triangle has been credited to him.

Sources for this section: Wikipedia eng

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