Chapter 70 Debate About a Mathematical Tragedy
Although this made Spicipes and the others feel a little frustrated, it also inspired their determination to study hard.
In addition, what made Spicipes and the others curious is that since the beginning of the Scholars Conference, there has been an endless stream of Dionysian people who have come to the academy to listen to lectures, and the entire academy has been crowded with people, and even Turui had to send The soldiers entered the academy to maintain order. In the end, the academy enforced a rule, “Only a fixed quota of people who come to the academy will be allowed to enter the academy every day.” Even so, many people can still be seen wandering outside the academy every day.
Aureas had spoken to them, and among these people were public officials, farmers, merchants, artisans... There were Turians, but also from Campania, Greater Greece, Apulia, Sicily... and not only The Greeks, but also the Lucanians, the Brutians, the Mesapis... Most of them had studied in the schools of the various cities of Dionia, and even though they were busy with life, they were still hungry for knowledge.
From the questions they raised in the venue, it can be seen that their knowledge level is not low, which surprised Spicypus and Aureas, because speeches and exchanges at this level are often A few people's affairs, knowledge is not widespread in many Greek city-states, even if prosperous as Athens. Every year when the Athenian Citizens Congress elects generals or expels politicians, it is common for illiterate citizens to ask others to help them write on pottery shards... The Dionysians' pursuit of knowledge is so ardent that they are ashamed.
In the afternoon of this day, Aureas and the others hurried from the School of Philosophy to the School of Mathematics, because there was a lecture by Fosterkarda.
This scholar conference held by Dionia also provides a stage for young scholars, as long as their applications are approved, they can also take the stage to give speeches, interspersed with the speeches of well-known scholars.
Of course, most of the young people who came to the stage were students from Dionia Academy. After all, they were better prepared and naturally passed the examination.
As a student of Dionysian Academy, which Spicipes and Aureas had known and had the best relationship with, Fosterkada had invited them to dinner at the Cristoia restaurant in the city last night. , so of course Spicypus and the others will come to cheer, and they are also curious about what Fostercada will say, because during the chat last night, he was always tight-lipped.
When they entered the meeting room of the School of Mathematics, Fosterkarda's speech had already begun.
What they saw was an astonishing scene: some spectators off the field yelled and rushed to the stage, were stopped by the soldiers, and some even threw rocks on the stage. Surrounded by his classmates, Fostercada resolutely spoke his point of view in a louder voice, while writing his argumentation process on the pitch-black wallboard with a white pen made of limestone.
"What is the title of Fosterkarda's speech?" Oleas asked the audience next to him.
The listener said impatiently: "On the existence of numbers other than integers and ratios of integers."
"Then listen intently.
Aureas found the subject somewhat familiar.
"Hippassos!" Spicypus reminded beside him.
Aureas suddenly realized. The reason he felt familiar was because the topic involved an academic tragedy in Greater Greece decades ago.
Hippasos, a Metapontum, a disciple of the Pythagoreans. When he studied the regular pentagon, he found that its diagonal and side lengths could not be represented by integers or ratios of integers. Next, he discovered that the same is true for the side lengths and diagonals of a square.
So full of exploratory spirit, after repeated verification, he confirmed one thing: that is, in addition to integers and the ratio of integers, there is also a number that cannot be divided evenly, and the exact number cannot be obtained. Can't cycle.
He then presented his point of view at a discussion with members of the school.
The members of the school of Pythagoras panicked, because the discovery of Hippasus, if confirmed and popularized, would overturn the founder of the school, Pythagoras, that "everything is number, and one is all number." The generator, everything in the universe, boils down to whole numbers and ratios of whole numbers" philosophy, and as a result the rest of the Pythagoreans imprisoned Hippasus and eventually threw him into the sea, where he drowned.
But the incident eventually spread after a complaint from the Hippasos family.
Aureas probably knew about such an event, but did not know the detailed process, but when he saw the angry protesters in the audience, he knew that it must be a member of the Pythagoras school, and he couldn't help thinking about Foss. Tekada was sweating.
However, Fostercada ignored the clamor of these people, and continued to ask questions on the siding calmly.
Spicipes looked at the siding, and he saw that the numbers and symbols used by Fosterkarda were the "Davos Numbers," which King Davos is said to have been inspired by Hades to invent. The Davos number was only popular in the Dionysian Kingdom at first, and later spread to other city-states through merchants, and was gradually accepted by the people of other city-states and even scholars. After all, it is too convenient and fast in counting and computing. In particular, the troubles of the Greeks counting large numbers have been eliminated, so the scholars and people here today can basically understand it.
Fostercada drew a square on the siding, he set each side to be one, then he solved the length of the diagonal, ironically Fostercada used Pythagoras The Pythagorean theorem invented by St. The result of the calculation is that the length of the diagonal becomes the square root of two.
Fosterkarda went on to prove that the number could not be represented by the ratio of two whole numbers, again using the method commonly used by the Pythagoreans, the method of contradiction. After his successful demonstration, he continued to try to square root of two.
At this time, he was using an algorithm he called "dichotomy." Seeing that the entire siding was almost full, he threw away the white pen, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and turned to face the audience below the stage. The audience, said loudly: "After my calculation, the length of the diagonal of this square should be 1.4142..., this number does not end, it will be endless and non-cyclic, it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers, So it's not a natural number, I call it an unnatural number..."
"To shut up!"
"Bullshit!"
"Everything you say is wrong, there is no such number! You, a little student, have no right to slander the great Pythagoras! Insult our school! Come down and let us teach you a good lesson. Stop!..." The members of the Pythagorean school shouted loudly.
In the front row of the venue, the deputy dean of the School of Mathematics, Mattikoris, stood up angrily and shouted sharply: "What's the trouble! This is the Dionysian Academy, not Tarantum! Soldiers, if you don't listen to the class carefully, you will make trouble instead. I'm going to be kicked out of this idiot!"
Mattikoris has the status of the patriarch of the kingdom. As soon as he said that, the soldiers rushed up to arrest these troublemakers.
There was chaos in the venue, and some members of the Pythagoreans scolded loudly: "Maticris, you traitor! I knew that you would use the power of Dionia to suppress our Pythagoreans. , because you can't compare to us academically! Originally, we came to Turii to see what new ideas you have, but I didn't expect... I bah! What an All-Greek Scholars Conference! I think it's a piece of shit!"
"Whether the "All-Greek Scholars Conference" is good, it's not your turn to evaluate!" A loud voice came from the door of the conference hall.
"His Majesty Davos!!"
"His Majesty!!!"
...
Amid the exclamations of the audience, Davos strode to the podium.
Photographed by the power of Davos, the members of the Pythagorean school also stopped shouting, and a strange silence soon appeared in the venue.
Davos stepped onto the podium, and Fostercada respectfully saluted him.
Davos patted him lightly on the shoulder, then faced the audience, and said in a deep voice: "This is a sacred place for imparting knowledge and exchanging knowledge, abuse and fighting are prohibited, and violators will be punished. This is the "Dionysian" Law, I hope you don't violate it, otherwise, no matter who you are, you will be punished by the law!"
"Your Majesty, we have no intention of breaking Dionysian law. However, at such an influential conference, the Dionysian School of Mathematics deliberately chose such a topic to discredit and slander the respected ancestor of our school - Pida Goras, wantonly attacking the reputation of our school, destroying the unity between Dionia and Tarantum, I don't think this is what you want to see either... I hope your majesty can take care of this matter Strictly deal with them!" As an important member of the Pythagorean school, Lysis did not make a riot like others, but protested with his sharp eloquence and justice.
"Your Majesty, listen to me..." Mattikoris was eager to argue, and Davos swept his eyes as sharp as a knife, and he didn't speak in a guilty conscience.
Davos has coordinated the schedule of the conference before. He generally knows the topics of well-known scholars' speeches, but he does not understand the content of the speeches of young scholars, because these are all reviewed and arranged by each college. But as a disciple of the original Pythagorean school, how could Mattikoris not know the possible impact of this incident, so he quietly arranged for the students to talk about such a topic without telling himself, of course Davos would be displeased with him, as it might ruin such an unorganized convention.
If it wasn't for Hernepolis anxiously wanting to go to the Academy of Letters to listen to a speech in the morning, Davos asked by the way what the content of today's conference was, and Aristillas sent someone to the academy to inquire about it, and then came back and told him He, he may not know until this conflict has gotten bigger.