Garfield was a Freemason. The Pythagorean Theorem (aka the 47th problem of Euclid) has special significance in Freemasonry, and it is common for Freemasons to come up with their own proofs. On 9/6/2010 4:40 PM, jdb@math.arizona.edu wrote:
Bill Gosper<billgosper@gmail.com> wrote:
DanA>RWG wrote:
<< Martin was intrigued by [Robert] Ammann's constantly shifting return address, and repeatedly requested some biographical data. Ammann finally replied that he was a parking lot attendant. Uh-huh. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ammann> Apparently he was a very smart guy who didn't have professional training.
Another such story with Marjorie Rice: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Rice>. There's something about tiling.
--Dan -------------------------- There's a nice segment on Rice in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAGKzFDxmUA . (Or maybe part 5. I don't have the bandwidth to check.)
Following the Ammann Wiki Amateur Mathematicians link leads to: In 1876, [President-to-be James A.] Garfield discovered a novel proof[41] of the Pythagorean Theorem using a trapezoid while serving as a member of the House of Representatives.[42]
I wonder what that idiot assassin deprived us of. --rwg Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem was in my geometry book in high school. I wonder why later presidents didn't follow his example and put in a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem?
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