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The Discovery and Proof of Irrational

Numbers

When you
use

1111 1
Pythagoras's theorem produces irrational
numbers.

Pythagoras's theorem on a triangle whose

two shorter sides each have length of 1, you
discover that the length of the hypotenuse
is .../2.

You can then prove mathematically that

there is no ratio of whole numbers which
can produce .../2. This is unlike the case of,
for example ½, which is the ratio of the
whole numbers 1 and 2, or ¾, which is the

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whole numbers 1 and 2, or ¾, which is the

ratio of the whole numbers 3 and 4.

If you try to write .../2 as a decimal fraction,

the digits after the decimal point go on
forever with no repeating pattern .

.../2 =
1.414213562373095048801688724202 ......

A Quick, Easy Proof that -J2 is

Irrational

St r ~ ow to prove easily that n ... :

-J"2-=/=- C
d

2
cf is<
~ d -,~ I

CONTRA

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The discovery of ../2 and other irrational

numbers was a shock for the Pythagoreans.
One of their core beliefs was that everything
in the universe was built using whole
numbers and their ratios. They had to
change their beliefs, but this was a painful
process.

Even today, the horror of the Pythagoreans

in finding such numbers stays with us in our
use of the word irrational to mean crazy or
illogically wrong.
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= Q. ~ Britannica Subscribe e V

number theory == Table of Contents

Hv1rtues, wealth, mocteranon, propriety,
and beauty." (Some modern writers
label such nonsense numerical
theology.)

In a similar vein, the Greeks called a

pair of integers amicable ("friendly") if
each was the sum of the proper divisors
of the other. They knew only a single
~-~~~-~~~~- pair: 220 and 284. One can
easily check that the sum of the proper
divisors of 284 is 1 + 2 + 4 + 71 + 142 =
220 and the sum of the proper divisors
of 22 0 is 1 + 2 + 4 + 5 + 10 + 11 + 2 0 + 2 2 +
44 + 55 + 110 = 284. For those prone to
number mysticism, such a phenomenon
must have seemed like magic.

Euclid

By contrast, Euclid presented number

theory without the flourishes. He began
"Qnnl.r "U TT nf l,-ic r::'lornontc hu rlofin-inrr !l

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Pythagoras and Prime Numbers

Pythagoras discovered prime numbers and

composite numbers (any integer that is not a prime).
He also looked at perfect numbers, the ones that are
the sum of their divisors (excluded the number
itself). For example, six is a perfect number; its
divisors are 3, 2 and 1, and 3+2+1=6. He also discovered
that 28 is a perfect number, and his students later
added 496 and 8128. These were the only perfect
numbers discovered for centuries, until the
Renaissance was in full swing. Pythagoras also liked
friendly numbers, where two numbers are the sum
of each other's factors. The example he discovered
was 220 and 284, and they would be the only friendly
numbers discovered for two millennia. The
Pythagoreans also studied the polygonal numbers:

• Triangular numbers: 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n = n(n + 1)/ 2

• Square numbers: 1 + 3 + 5 + ... + (2n - 1) = n2

• Pentagonal numbers: 1 + 4 + 7+___+ (3n - 2) =

(3n2 - n)/2

• Hexagonal numbers: 1 + 5 + 9 + ___ + (4n - 3) =

2n2 - n

Pythagoras and his students also discovered

irrational numbers, as they found that the square
root of two could not be expressed as an integer or a
fraction, although it is unclear as to what they did

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11. Amicable
Numbers
Pythagoreans are credited for the
discovery of the first pair of amicable
numbers. Amicable numbers are those
pairs of numbers for which the sum of
divisors of one number is equal to the
other number and vice versa. For
example, (220,284), here, sum of perfect
divisors of 220 is
1+2+4+5+10+11+20+22+44+55+110=284
and sum of perfect divisors of 284 is
1+2+4+71+142=220.

Finl riJfa amiable pain

28'1 1210 2924 .5564 6368 108.56 14.59.5 18416
Pairs
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