Sunday, October 11, 2020

Reading Response-Was Pythagoras Chinese?



This is an interesting article to read. In my opinion, Knowledge should not has boundaries. It should not belong to anyone or any country. Any theorem or inventions was referenced from the knowledge before. Take Pythagorean Theorem as an example; when I teach in the classroom, I will acknowledge my students the mathematic history focused on when it started and when it developed and who. It is important for students to be aware of the diversity of mathematic history, rather than restrict it to be Eurocentric. The history of mathematics from a non-Eurocentric source makes all students from diverse cultures more interested and connected to mathematics. Furthermore,  the mathematical theorems and concepts shouldn't be named after the person; instead, it should be named to relate the theorems or concepts itself. This way, when we see the name of the theorem, we know what it is about. At the same time, this way also avoids the argument about whose name should be used for the theorem, the person who found it, or the person who proved it such as the Pascale triangle, another example which is not found by Pascale but the important patterns was found by him.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Megan -- interesting. (A writing suggestion: It may be helpful to break up your writing into paragraphs to keep each idea somewhat separated for clarity!)

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Reflection on this course

  This course opened my mind to the history of mathematics. It is fascinating to read the articles from the Crest of Peacock to Trivium and...