Who is Pythagoras' wife; hypotenuse comes from his wife's name?

Moreover, Theano of Croton, who lived long before Hypatia, is considered the first female philosopher.

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who lived in the 6th century, is also the most famous mathematician of antiquity. This status of Pythagoras is confirmed by his contributions to geometry, number theory, and music. His ideas influenced many of history's greatest scientists, from Plato to Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton. Moreover, even though he was not the first to discover it, Pythagoras is the most well-known mathematician today because of the theorem named after him.

Human beings are curious by nature. This curiosity increases when private lives are in question. As you will notice when you search in different languages, many people today are more interested in Pythagoras' private life than his actions. One of the most frequently asked questions is whether he is married or not. At this point, an interesting claim emerges.

Pythagoras' Wife's Name Was Not "Hypotenuse".

First of all, as far as we know, Pythagoras was married. However, his wife's name was not Hypotenuse. Theano of Croton, who said 'It is better to be a stray horse than a woman who does not think' and lived long before Hypatia, was the first female philosopher. She is also the wife of Pythagoras.

Theano was born around 546 BC, probably in Crete. Although her early life is not well known, it is believed that she was the daughter of the Orphic Brontinus. Her father was a member of a religious group focused on the cult of Osiris. This group believed in reincarnation. Today, it is possible to find traces of this belief in Pythagorean philosophy. This suggests that Theano may have motivated her husband in many ways.

At the end of twenty years of travels, Pythagoras had assimilated all the mathematical rules in the known world of that time. Finally, he sailed towards his home island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. His aim was to establish a school where he could transfer the knowledge he learned. However, over the years, the tyrant Polycrates had turned Samos, which was once a free country, into an intolerant and conservative society.

He then went to southern Italy, which is part of Greece and settled in Croton. There he got lucky and thus the Pythagorean Brotherhood was established. Theano and her father, whom Pythagoras probably met during his travels, were also included in this school. Pythagoras was 56 years old at that time. Pythagoras' wife Theano was much younger, but also full of passion for science. They got married in a short time. Theano had five children with Pythagoras, two sons, and three daughters.

Unfortunately, Pythagoras' rising power brought about his death. Theano would continue the school with the support of his children. At this point, one of his daughters, Damo, would take on the task of protecting the work of her father and the other students. Thanks to these efforts, Pythagoras' school survived for at least 200 years after the great mathematician's death. Theano died around the 5th century BC.

What Does Hypotenuse Mean?

Let's come to the origin of the word hypotenuse, which is the reason for the emergence of the claims. First of all, this word came to our language from English and from the Greek word "hupoteinousa". As we said before, the Pythagorean Theorem has no connection with Pythagoras. This theorem is also found in four Babylonian tablets dating from 1900-1600 BC.

We know that Pythagoras traveled during a certain period of his life to develop his thoughts. It is possible that he was introduced to this theorem at this time. It seems that this rule, whose accuracy was previously accepted only by instinct, wandered from civilization to civilization for centuries and finally came across Pythagoras.

Although the Pythagorean theorem was known by many ancient civilizations before Pythagoras, its first practical application appeared in Egypt. Egyptians living in the land where geometry was born in the 2000s BC had some geometric ideas about triangles and pyramids. However, they put these into practice in a practical rather than written form. For example, stretching rope was a method used to obtain right triangles in the construction of structures such as pyramids.

The word hypotenuse appears in several places in Timaeos, one of Plato's dialogues. The word hypotenuse comes from the Greek word 'mutually stretched'. As you can see, there is no connection between Pythagoras' wife and the word hypotenuse.