Archimedes :: essays research papers

Archimedes is considered iodin of the three capaciousest mathematicians of all time along with northward and Gauss. In his own time, he was cognize as "the wise one," "the whelm" and "the great geometer" and his works and inventions brought him fame that persists to this very twenty-four hour period. He was one of the last great Grecian mathematicians. Born in 287 B.C., in Syracuse, a Greek seaport colony in Sicily, Archimedes was the son of Phidias, an astronomer. Except for his studies at Euclids drill in Alexandria, he spent his entire life in his birthplace. Archimedes turn verboten to be a master at mathematics and spent closely of his time contemplating new problems to solve, becoming at times so composite in his work that he forgot to eat. Lacking the blackboards and paper of modern times, he used any available surface, from the dust on the ground to ashes from an get rid of fire, to draw his geometric figures. Never giving up an opportuni ty to reflect his work, after bathing and anointing himself with olive oil, he would trace figures in the oil on his own skin. Much of Archimedes fame comes from his relationship with Hiero, the king of Syracuse, and Gelon, Hieros son. The great geometer had a close friendship with and may have been related to the monarch. In any case, he seemed to make a hobby out of solving the kings most complicated problems to the utter amazement of the sovereign. At one time, the king ordered a gold crown and gave the goldsmith the admit amount of metal to make it. When Hiero received it, the crown had the correct cargo but the monarch suspected that some silver had been used kinda of the gold. Since he could not prove it, he brought the problem to Archimedes. One day while considering the question, "the wise one" entered his bathtub and recognized that the amount of piss that overflowed the tub was proportional the amount of his body that was submerged. This observation is now kno wn as Archimedes Principle and gave him the means to solve the problem. He was so hallucinating that he ran naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting "Eureka constantan" (I have found it). The fraudulent goldsmith was brought to justice. Another time, Archimedes stated " throw away me a place to stand on and I will sound the earth." King Hiero, who was absolutely astonished by the statement, asked him to prove it.