Hidden harmonies : the lives and times of the Pythagorean theorem / Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-278] and index.

The mathematician as demigod -- Desert virtuosi -- Through the veil -- Rebuilding the cosmos -- Touching the bronze sky -- Exuberant life -- Number emerges from shape -- Living at the limit -- The deep point of the dream -- Magic casements -- Reaching through ... or past ... history?

A squared plus b squared equals c squared. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Yet this familiar expression is a gateway into the riotous garden of mathematics, and sends us on a journey of exploration in the company of two inspired guides, who trace the life of the Pythagorean theorem from ancient Babylon to the present, visiting along the way Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, President James Garfield, and the Freemasons--not to mention the elusive Pythagoras himself. Why does this theorem have more than two hundred proofs--or is it four thousand? And it has even more applications than proofs: Ancient Egyptians used it for surveying, and today astronomers call on it to measure the distance between stars. It works not just in two dimensions, but any number you like, up to infinity. And perhaps most intriguing of all, it opened the door to the world of irrational numbers.--From publisher description.