Drawing a circle with a carpenter's square - GIF

[ToolTalkBot]

Drawing a circle with a carpenter's square.




Previously:

1868 six-sided carpenter's square - photo

[mklotz]

Yet another application of Thale's theorem.

[neilbourjaily]

aka the Intercept theorem. Yep, I know Thales discovered it about 2 1/2 millennia ago. Perhaps I am picking nits or fits, however I do agree it is time to rename theory and discovery away from the dead-old-white-man method of naming, especially as regards very old discoveries. It over celebrates the discoverer as opposed to the discovery. It tells us nothing about the nature of the discovery. It also suggest the DOWs were the only smart people about.
I also consider the discovery of mathematics, processes, and physics to be just that, discoveries not inventions.

[mklotz]

aka the Intercept theorem. Yep, I know Thales discovered it about 2 1/2 millennia ago. Perhaps I am picking nits or fits, however I do agree it is time to rename theory and discovery away from the dead-old-white-man method of naming, especially as regards very old discoveries. It over celebrates the discoverer as opposed to the discovery. It tells us nothing about the nature of the discovery. It also suggest the DOWs were the only smart people about.
I also consider the discovery of mathematics, processes, and physics to be just that, discoveries not inventions.

Good luck with that. I suggest you write a detailed explanation of how you intend to accomplish the switchover and then nail it to the dark side of the moon where it will get the attention it deserves.

[neilbourjaily]

Good luck with that. I suggest you write a detailed explanation of how you intend to accomplish the switchover and then nail it to the dark side of the moon where it will get the attention it deserves.

With all warmth, Marv, I too come from the DOW teaching/naming era. S-l-o-w-l-y, universities and colleges are addressing the matter. The finished outcome is unlikely to come until long after my bones have mouldered away, by which time the dark side of the moon may be colonized. And certainly there will be resistance along the way. However, newly discovered processes and theoremata are now more commonly named after the matter at hand and less commonly after their discoverers. Consider Dr. Einstein: none of what he discovered did he name for himself, though indeed others did eponymously name some of his theories.

[cognitdiss]

With all warmth, Marv, I too come from the DOW teaching/naming era. S-l-o-w-l-y, universities and colleges are addressing the matter. The finished outcome is unlikely to come until long after my bones have mouldered away, by which time the dark side of the moon may be colonized. And certainly there will be resistance along the way. However, newly discovered processes and theoremata are now more commonly named after the matter at hand and less commonly after their discoverers. Consider Dr. Einstein: none of what he discovered did he name for himself, though indeed others did eponymously name some of his theories.

Therefore consider Thales, as he too named nothing after himself, and know you have mooted your own argument.

Per Wikipedia:

It is generally attributed to Thales of Miletus, but it is sometimes attributed to Pythagoras.

History

Thales of Miletus (early 6th century BC) is traditionally credited with proving the theorem; however, even by the 5th century BC there was nothing extant of Thales' writing, and inventions and ideas were attributed to men of wisdom such as Thales and Pythagoras by later doxographers based on hearsay and speculation.^[2][3] Reference to Thales was made by Proclus (5th century AD), and by Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century AD) documenting Pamphila's (1st century AD) statement that Thales "was the first to inscribe in a circle a right-angle triangle".^[4]