Mini Math Bio - Thales (6th Century BC)

by Elias Pirasteh
Mini Math Bio - Thales (6th Century BC)

Thales, the Greek mathematician from Miletus, Ionia (today's Western Turkey), was probably also the first "scientist" in the world (at least in the West) who used his reason to figure out how things worked out in real life.Thales was famous for calculating distances and heights by triangulation and ratio methods. He was also an engineer and an astronomer who predicted the solar eclipse of 585 B.C.For example, here is how one day he calculated the height of a pyramid. He stuck a stick right next to the pyramid and waited for the sun to rise. When the shadow of the stick became equal to its height, he immediately measured the length of pyramid's shadow since he knew that at that precise instant the length of the pyramid's shadow would also be equal to its height. Pretty smart, isn't it?Again, Thales amazed his fellow Greeks by calculating a ship's distance to the shore by using the following method:Step 1: Standing by the edge of the water, Thales would point a stick at the ship. Then, he would ask an assistant who is standing 100 yards away also point a stick at the ship, thereby forming a right triangle.Step 2: Then Thales would ask his assistant to walk towards him WITHOUT changing the angle of the second stick. The assistant would walk until he is just one yard away from Thales. They would of course have a small triangle where the extension of the second stick intersected the extension of Thales's stick.Step 3: They would easily measure the height of this much smaller triangle. Let's say the height is L.Step 4: Since the large triangle with the ship at its far end is 100 times larger than the small triangle, Thales would simply multiply L by 100 to find out the ship's distance to the shore.Today, this sounds like a very simple thing to do. But back then it came across almost like magic.

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