Wednesday 16 December 2020

Pythagoras Day

 It's a Pythagoras Day today (16² + 12² = 20²). There will only be a maximum of two more in my lifetime; I'm getting old.



Pythagoras is best known for demonstrating how to squash a hippopotamus, but, according to Wikipedia, among his lesser known sayings was "Do not take roads travelled by the public". Truly a man ahead of his time.

Much more reliable is the story of him going into a bar mumbling to himself "If a right-angled triangle has a short side X, a long side Y and a hypotenuse Z, then the square of Z must be equal to the square of X plus the square of...the square of...the square of...".

The barman says "Y, the long face".

No comments:

Post a Comment