Pythagoras' theorem

1. What's Your Angle Pythagoras by Julie Ellis is a story about a curious boy named Pythagoras that tries to solve to questions throughout the story. The first question he had was why Saltos and Pepros, two workmen, building a temple could not seem to find the right ladder size to build the temple and fix a temple with crooked columns. They were arguing why the ladder was not fit to climb if the height of the temple was 12 ft. and the ladder is 12 ft. The second problem was to help his father create a new route that would be shorter for him to travel for work. While on a trip with his dad, Pythagoras was introduced to a builder, Neff, with a special rope that helped him build things. He was amazed at the straightness of the buildings, and was curious to see how the roped helped Neff build such nice things. Neff however, would not let Pythagoras hold on to the rope for long because it was his secret. That didn't stop him from creating his own rope and figuring out this special method that let Neff build upright things, a right triangle. He discovered that to create a right triangle the rope had to have the lengths of 3-4-5. While his father and Neff went off to fetch some supplies Pythagoras decided to play around with Neff’s tiles and lay it around his rope into squares. When Neff and his father came back they got mad at him for fooling around with Neff’s things however, Pythagoras found out a formula that created right triangles using the tiles. Pythagoras then used this method to solve the two mysteries with the temple and his father. The workers thanked him for helping them finish the temple in time. And his dad who was still upset at him for touching Neff’s things thanked him and applauded him for helping him see things from the “right angle”.

2. Pythagoras with his 3-4-5 right triangle theorem also discovered that the 3 to the 2^nd power and 4 to the 2nd power added up to be 5 to the 2nd power. Creating a^2+b^2=c^2. For Saltos and Pepros to have the correct ladder size Pythagoras used his equation and figured out that 5^2+12^2=13^2 which means that the ladder had to be 13 ft long. To solve his father’s problem he mapped out the three locations, which created a right triangle when connected together. He used his formula again to find that his father could cut across and only travel 185 miles, by using 111^2+148^2=185^2.  This book represents how when Pythagoras “graphed” the right triangles using the rope, leading him to his discovery on the formula. He also unintentionally figured a way to find the slope of something (although it wasn’t a focus in the book). The ladder for example acted as the slope for the space between the temple and the ground.

3. I think literature is a great way to teach mathematical concepts because it lets you paint a picture in your head about the problems. When you look at formulas on paper it can look confusing, but when you follow a problem with a story it is easier to understand and conceptualize. This method of learning can also apply to teaching a mathematic concept because it makes it easier for the other person to understand. It also reassures the uses of math because I feel like most of the time most people think math beyond the basic is useless in real life. But as we learn in this class and read through stories like this one, people can see that it has more real like concepts it can apply to.