Blog Response: Was Pythagorus Chinese - Revising an old debate

            I believe that acknowledging non-European sources of mathematics and delivering the ideas to students as a math educator would make a difference in our student’s learning. Due to the long-standing belief that European scholars invented mathematics, the contributions of non-European nations have received little attention in the histories of mathematics. Educators should utilize historically accurate educational materials and base their lessons on an all-inclusive curriculum to foster a safe and welcoming environment for students with culturally different backgrounds. I also think acknowledging non-European sources is critical for a balanced education that would motivate students. For instance, if there is a mathematician with the same cultural background, this would make the student so proud and take a lively interest in learning the specific concept. For the last project in this course, our group got an idea to geometrically prove the formula for the volume of the pyramid in an ancient way from the Chinese mathematician “Liu Hui”. The fact that the Asian mathematician contributed to the proof draws more attention to it.

            The Pythagorean theorem, which we are familiar with, was not completed by Pythagoras himself. The Pythagorean theorem is more clearly analyzed by Euclid. Also, the theorem was well known even before the ancient Greek period when Pythagoras was active. One record also states that the theorem was known in ancient China before Pythagoras discovered it. I believe that changing the name of the theorems to more straightforward ones that reflect the contents of the theorem is a better idea to combat the controversies. For instance, we could change the Pythagorean theorem to the right triangle theorem to help students who first learn the theorem better understand it.