Pythagoras was born around 569 B.C. in Samos, Ionia, and died around 475 B.C. Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher, and mathematician. Pythagoras also developed the Pythagorean brotherhood. This was religious in nature, however it formulated principals that influenced the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle, and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy. Pythagoras not only developed the theorem of A2+B2=C2, but he was also the first to create the music scale of today. Unfortunately none of Pythagorass writings from this development time have survived to present day. In the brotherhood that Pythagoras created, he was the head of the society with an inner circle of followers known as mathematikoi. The mathematikoi lived permanently with the society, had no personal possessions and were vegetarians. They were all taught by Pythagoras himself, and they had strict rules to abide by. Some of his rules ranged from; At its deepest level, reality is mathematical in nature, to that all brothers of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy. Both men and women were permitted to become members of the society, in fact several Pythagorean women, later became famous philosophers. The outer circles of the society were known as the akousmatics, and they lived in their own houses, only coming to the society during the day. They were allowed their own possessions, and were not required to be vegetarians. Nothing is actually known of Pythagorass actual work. The school that Pythagoras attended practiced secrecy and communalism, making it hard to distinguish between the work of Pythagoras himself, and the work of his followers. Pythagorass school made outstanding contributions to mathematics, and this makes it possible to be fairly certain about some of Pythagorass mathematical contributions. Pythagoras was mainly interested in the principals of mathematics, the concept of numbers, the concept of a triangle or oth...
