MATH 1)NUMBER SYSTEMS 2)PYTHAGOREAN BROTHERHOOD 3)BOOK 'HOW TO SOLVE Essay

MATH 1)NUMBER SYSTEMS 2)PYTHAGOREAN BROTHERHOOD 3)BOOK 'HOW TO SOLVE IT' 4) JOHN NAPIER - Essay Example Napier was one of the first, if not the first, to use the decimal point in expressing decimal fractions in a systematic way and according to the modern system of decimal notation[1]. The first tables of logarithms were published independently by the Scottish mathematician John Napier in 1614 and the Swiss mathematician Justus Byrgius in 1620. The first table of common logarithms was compiled by the English mathematician Henry Briggs [1]. Henry Briggs (1561-1630) was born at Warley Wood, near Halifax at Yorkshire and educated at St. John's College, in Cambridge. He is notable for changing Napier's logarithms into common/Brigessian Logarithms [2]. In the year 1616, Henry Brigss visited John Napier in his home in Edinburgh to discuss the suggested change to Napier's work [2]. The next year, Henry again visited John regarding the same matter. He proposed the alteration of the scale of logarithms from the hyperbolic 1 / e from which John Napier had given to that which unity is assumed as the logarithm of the ratio of 10 to 1 [2]. During their conversation, the alteration proposed by Briggs was agreed upon by Napier and published the first chiliad of his logarithms du ring his second visit to Edinburgh in 1617. In 1624 Henry Briggs gave a numerical approximation to the base 10 logarithm. The Pythagorean Brotherhood is one of Greece's ancient societies. ... settled in Crotona, a Greek colony in southern Italy, where he founded a movement with religious, political, and philosophical aims, known as Pythagoreanism.. There he founded the famous Pythagorean school in the south of Italy, which in addition to being an academy for the study of philosophy, mathematics, and natural science, developed into a closely knit brotherhood with secret rites and observances (Eves, 54). The Pythagoreans adhered to certain mysteries, observed bedience and silence, abstinence from food, simplicity in dress and possessions. The Pythagoreans believed in immortality and in the transmigration of souls. The brotherhood became so great that the democratic forces of the south of Italy destroyed the school buildings and caused the society to disperse (Eves, 55). According to Eves, the Pythagorean philosophy rested on the assumption that whole number is the cause of the various qualities of matter, which led to the exhaltation and study of number properties and arithmetic along with geometry, music and spherics constituted the fundamental liberal arts of the Pythagorean program of study(Eves, 55). The brotherhood dispersed after Pythagoras was said to have died through murder. Although scattered in different places, not only in Italy, the brotherhood continued to exist for at least two (2) more centuries. For the reason that Pythagoras' teaching was entirely oral, and also because of the custom of the brotherhood to refer all discoveries back to the revered founder, it is now difficult to know which mathematical findings should be credited to Pythagoras himself, and which to other members of the society (Eves, 55). How to Solve It How to Solve It is a book in small volume describing the methods in problem solving [3]. George Plya was

Probing into Internet Culture as New Media Essay

Probing into Internet Culture as New Media - Essay Example Our first question is whether newer forms of technology seek to belittle traditional fields and disciplines. In this respect, we talk of how Plato in his book Phaedrus stood staunchly against writing, as a new form of technology. From here we continue analyzing how computers and the internet, an integral aspect of the phenomenon of new technology and an advance over writing and printing, manipulate the human thought process. The study will be based on how technological advances have faced stiff reaction from the time of Plato. While Plato voiced his reaction against writing as a technological advance over the traditional tool of oration, modern writers criticize the effect of the internet, as an advance over writing, on human memory. Our essay will comprise of a thorough analysis of the boons and curses of the internet on human life today. We will make significant probings into past and present research including literary sources on 'internet culture' to see how it dominates human thinking. We will analyze the literary and online resources to understand the workings of the internet as an aspect of modern technology. Here, we try to see how advances towards technology had been regarded as a social contagion from ancient times. Plato, the classical Greek philosopher, argued in favor of the 'superiority of the spoken word' over writing as a new technology, which had a detrimental effect on human memory. Those who received partial information without instruction remained mostly ignorant. The philosopher debated in his book Phaedrus, through the words of Socrates, about the 'myth of the invention of writing', which often resulted in forgetfulness and the loss of memory. (Plato, Hackforth 156-159). Writing is described as a pastime instead of 'serious business' and importance is given to dialectics, which is ingrained in the souls of men. (Plato writes on the dangers of writing, 2006). Now the question is what Plato would have thought about the internet (Plato's complaint, 2000) Plato's reaction against writing probably anticipated the modern day response towards the computer and the internet. Plato believed that writing isolated man from society. Likewise, computers are perceived as mediums of separating man from social gatherings. Writing is an integral part of our lives. We do not see it as a product of modern technology. Modern tools such as pen, paper, ink and paints are used in case of writing. Writing undermined the power of the word centuries ago. Computers, a technological advance over writing are perceived in the same light now. (Ong, 77-94). Walter Ong specified that, writing or other artificial modes of technology had an enhancing effect on the human mind. He asserted that alienation from society, which writing provided, was required for enhancing the conscious. Writing and computers, he said was the most effective way of technologizing the word. After the word is technologized, the technological means cannot be criticized. Arguments, however, counteract the aforementioned stance about technology. We will mainly focus on how the technological boom, which has swept many a nation, the world over, has a debilitating effect on the brain and human memory. The internet is an encyclopedia, offering