Comments on: Just be Glad You Aren’t Pythagoras’s Student…

By: m,m,m,

m,m,m, — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:33:41 +0000

I really, really, really doubt the veracity of this anecdote.

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:02:19 +0000

Isn’t it Pythagoras’ Student? Or commonly Pythagoras’s student?

The apostrophe being that of a possessive one…

By: captainblack

captainblack — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:09:54 +0000

Since the probable dates for Pythagoras and Hippasus do not overlap it is unlikely that Hippasus was a direct student of Pythagoras, and even less likely that Pythagoras sentenced him to death or took part in his execution.

As far as I can tell the current urban legent originates with Simon Singh.

By: Tres J

Tres J — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:09:46 +0000

My guess is that poor old Hipparsus like all his other fellow students/initiates were sworn to secrecy about speaking to outsiders of what their work was until he and his fellow Imperators were ready to spread this wisdom.
Pythagoras was an initiate or many mystery schools and in those one was sworn to secrecy under the IMPLICIT threat of death.
As enlightened as these men and women were they were under constant threat from tyrants, pirates, priests etc; and nothing or nobody was above the Oath to preserve their vast knowledge of physics, healing, math, astronomy, etc.
To judge a man who lived 2500 years ago in a rural ancient culture with the mores of a modern man is a tricky judgement to work around without running into some perplexing dichotomies.
Without a doubt Pythagoras had to be somewhat a control freak since he started several communities through out the Med., always with the idea of a community based on his principles. Conversely his principles were light years ahead of those around him. Tolerance, equality, and a love of Nature and Knowledge were the cornerstones of their goals.

By: ZACH

ZACH — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:58:26 +0000

It reminds me of being a child at home, a child who was his father’s son in every way even to the point of becoming an EE, and while at home as a child of even 7 OR 8 to figure out how many things work around the house OR in life that might be unexplainable at first blush wasn’t to be tolerated by my mother whenever her child would come up with an explanation separate and alone from hers that happened to be correct, at the expense of her explanation. I soon learned that it paid for me to allow her to believe just whatever she wanted to rather than to provide her with a better answer OR solution to the particular dilemma of the moment, even if it cost her money. So, there is distance in our relationship even today over this, and I am soon to be 49. So, for those of you half my age OR younger who are reading this for the first time, and for those of you who believe change will come for a parent OR loved one as you yourself change and get older, I offer you this previously explained example of change… You Are most welcome. For those of you who like to hope, well then you should hope, and for those who like to prayer I suggest you try that as well… As for me, I will scratch my head with befuddlement.

By: Ira

Ira — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:25:47 +0000

I knew that there was a reason I didn’t like math teachers.

By: roy

roy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:03:26 +0000

holy crap, the first couple of comments makes me lose faith in humanity, you people are disgusting excuses for human beings that the world would be better off without. That’s my opinion anyways

By: ooopinionsss

ooopinionsss — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:00:33 +0000

How you think when the economic crisis will end? I wish to make statistics of independent opinions!

By: Ugh

Ugh — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:09:56 +0000

Your possessive rules are off. You add an apostrophe+”s” in every case, except when the word already ends in -s. It has absolutely nothing to do with “ancient names” or anything. A good example is “women” and “women’s”. “Womens’” is wrong, because it doesn’t already end in an -s.

By: Michael Graham Richard

Michael Graham Richard — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:37:54 +0000

“Irrational thoughts produce irrational outcomes … and your point is?”

The point is that it’s not always so easy to know when our thoughts are irrational, and it can happen even to brilliant people. It requires some effort and vigilance to avoid that trap.

By: John Colquhoun

John Colquhoun — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:39:52 +0000

Irrational thoughts produce irrational outcomes … and your point is?

By: Savvas Dalkitsis

Savvas Dalkitsis — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:23:44 +0000

The story is not very accurate… Actually it IS accurate in the sense that it accurately perpetuates an urban myth about Pythagoras and this event. The truth is as follows (at least the accepted truth by the scientific community):

The Pythagoreans were a science “cult” that followed the teachings of Pythagoras who described everything as rational quantities. They were a group that believed that science was meant only for the chosen few and that commoners should have nothing to do with it.

When one of their students (could be Hippasus but no one is sure) discovered that the square root of two was not rational they decided that no one was to know of this since their world view would be incomplete. It remains as a question whether the one who made the discovery was killed or not.

To say “However, Pythagoras was unwilling to accept that he was wrong”, i think undermines the genius that was Pythagoras because the truth of the proof that the student found was SO obvious no one would dare to deny its validity. The proof is so elementary that even school children can understand it.
Wikipedia proof

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:10:32 +0000

This “property” of science has always been. Interesting that you pointed out such an early (ancient, even) example of it.

The inability to accept change and challenges to theorems is a barrier not only to the introduction and propagation of new ideas, it even keeps individuals from growing and learning themselves. It’s a symptom of comfort: if an idea or a state is comfortable and then is challenged, it shakes things up and makes then not so comfortable.

By: drblsharma

drblsharma — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:44:09 +0000

The story you have narrated here is very interesting and tells about the ancient time when human values were concentrated around the power.
Hyppasus and Pythagoras were the heroes of that time. The teacher or the masters were the over all omnipotent of the situation. Therefore, the time was different from the present .We should not compere that one.
However, to accept and reject the version whatever it may be, is the time factor. It is the teachers`view that what he holds in his mind. This situtation can be noticed even today where research student has to follow his teacher or otherwise he has to suffer. That, does not mean that everywhere it happens. In higher education, mostly in Universities, you can find as such situation where good as well as bad masters are there. A good teacher always supports and accepts his students version.
Therefore, on the basis of the biased attitude of the teacher one should not be dejected and leave the study. It is a human nature, that you can find every where.Thanks.

By: Anton Olsen.com » Blog Archive » Bookmarks for November 16th

Anton Olsen.com » Blog Archive » Bookmarks for November 16th — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:00:11 +0000

[...] Just be Glad You Aren’t Pythagoras’ Student…“That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” – P. C. Hodgell [...]

By: Richmond

Richmond — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:58:47 +0000

That’s what happens to know-it-all students… hehe.

By: arwansp

arwansp — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:54:42 +0000

dont know what to say…

By: Pythagorophile

Pythagorophile — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:20:28 +0000

From Wikipedia:

But there are two other stories about Hippasus. The first says that Hippasus was expelled from the Pythagorean school because he published doctrines of Pythagoras, while the second says that he was drowned at sea for revealing the construction of the dodecahedron in the sphere and claiming it as his own. But since the Pythagoreans’ supposed pledge to secrecy was most likely false, the authenticity of these stories is questioned

By: Patty

Patty — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:13:15 +0000

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Hippasus.html

Different story here.

By: artemisinin

artemisinin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:13:56 +0000

Good lord… focus on the content of the article. Minor grammar mistakes are irrelevant. Pointing them out makes you look, well, like an obnoxious tubesteak.

Awesome post. I just wonder how Pythagoras was able to sentence Hippasus to death? Was Hippasus his slave? Or was Pythagoras able to sentence his students to death? Would love to know more…

By: hefty

hefty — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:37:37 +0000

wrong.

rule #1: im #1

By: thedaythatidie

thedaythatidie — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:10:23 +0000

i guess i’m lucky. i never knew that story before. interesting. no student deserves to be “pythagorassed”.

By: wow

wow — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:22:00 +0000

Incorrect grammar nazis are the most pathetic creatures on God’s green Earth.

By: Hugh O'Malley

Hugh O'Malley — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:16:13 +0000

Off with his head!!! have him drowned for dodgy punctuation…

By: David

David — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:51:07 +0000

Thanks for the quote Richard – found you via reddit.com. Very insightful. Have you read Kuhn’s “Structure of Scientific Revolutions”? It follows along the same lines.

Don’t worry about the above comments – the truth is, MOST native speakers don’t know how to do that particular proper punctuation. Your English is fine

By: Well Played

Well Played — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:37:15 +0000

In case you missed it, MGR’s reaction to the first two responses is a small example of the virtue described in his post. Hodgell would be proud.

Also, I’m impressed with how quickly Godwin’s Law played out….

By: Keri

Keri — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:36:25 +0000

Not being a grammar nazi, I was focusing on the crux of your story. I had never heard this about Pythagoras, but I found it to be an extremely timely story to read. I have been trying to understand the nature of people’s hatred of change. This is an excellent allegory to use when entering a debate about change.

By the way, I am also thankful for the quote you put at the end of your article. I’ve been looking for something along that lines to counter an email signature quote of a colleague. I didn’t want to be brutal about it, and this has the subtlety I needed.

Interesting. Thanks!

By: Michael Graham Richard

Michael Graham Richard — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:20:02 +0000

Hey, thanks guys. English is my second language and I still make these kinds of mistakes from time to time. Fixed it.

By: Pythagoras's

Pythagoras's — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:14:57 +0000

Rule #1 of Strunk and White: always form the possessive of singular nouns with ‘s. The only exception, which should be avoided, is ancient names that end in -is or -es (which Pythagoras does not).

http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#1

Some people have no appreciation for the classics…

By: grammar-nazi

grammar-nazi — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:07:23 +0000

Hmm, I didn’t know “Pythagoras” was plural.