Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, Greece, in 569 BC.He excelled as a student and, as a young man, he traveled widely . Tradition says that he explored from India in the East to Gaul in the West.Pythagoras traveled extensively through Egypt, learning maths, astronomy and music. Pythagoras left Samos in disgust for its ruler Polycrates. He moved on to the Greek city of Crotona, located on the southern shore of Italy. There he created a school where his followers lived and worked.It was a mystical learning community.
At the heart of Pythagoras` teachings was the vision of the underlying harmony of the universe. This harmony had to be abstracted from the confusion of visible things and daily events. As a matter of fact this harmony existed in the abstract - in the same way as numbers and mathematical formulas are abstractions.
Pythagoras believed in secrecy and communalism, so it is almost impossible distguishing his work from the work of his followers. Pythagoras and his followers contributed to music, astronomy and mathematics. He died about 500 BC in Metapontum, Lucania.Pythagoras` desire was to find the mathematical harmonies of all things. The study of of odd, even, prime and square numbers were among numerous mathematical investigations of the Pythagoreans. This helped them develop a basic understanding of mathematics and geometry to build their Pythagorean theorem.
The Pythagorean Theorem states that the square of the hipotenyse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
Pythagoras Theorem asserts that for a right triangle with the short sides of the length a and b and the long side of the length ca2 + b2 = c2A Pythagorean Triangle is a right angled triangle which sides are whole numbers. There is an easy way to generate Pythagorean triangles using 4 Fibonacci numbers. Take, for example, the 4 Fibonacci numbers 1,2,3 and 5 .
We can now make a Pythagorean Triangle as follows :Mutiply the two middle or inner numbers here 2 and 3 giving 6; Double the results here twice 6 gives 12 That is one side, a, of the Pythagorean Triangle: a=2*F(n+1)*F(n+2)Multiply together the two outer numbers here 1 and 5 giving 5. This is the second side, b, of the Pythagorean Triangle: b=F(n)*F(n+3)The third side, the longest one, is found by adding together the squares of the inner two numbers here 22=4 and 32=9 and their sum is 4+9=13. This is the third side, c, of the Pythagorean Triangle: c=F2(n+1) + F2(n+2)We have generated 12, 5, 13 Pythagorean Triangle.
n F(n) F(n+1) F(n+2) F(n+3) a b c 1 1 1 2 3 4 3 5 2 1 2 3 5 12 5 13 3 2 3 5 8 30 16 34 4 3 5 8 13 80 39 89 6 8 13 21 34 546 272 610 7 13 21 34 55 1428 715 1597 8 21 34 55 89 3740 1869 4181 9 34 55 89 144 9790 4869 10946In fact, this process works not only for Fibonacci numbers but for Lucas numbers as well.
n L(n) L(n+1) L(n+2) L(n+3) a b c 1 1 3 4 7 24 7 25 2 3 4 7 11 56 33 65 3 4 7 11 18 154 72 170 4 7 11 18 29 396 203 445 5 11 18 29 47 1044 517 1165 6 18 29 47 76 2726 1368 3050 7 29 47 76 123 7144 3567 7985 8 47 76 123 199 18696 9353 20905 9 76 123 199 322 48954 24472 54730However, for a Pythagorean Triangle, we also want the sides to be Fibonacci numbers too.
It is triangle with sides
a=F(n), b=F(n+1) and c=sqrt(F(2n+1));
Here is a list of some Pythagorean triangles with sides which are Fibonacci numbers :
n F2(n) F2(n+1) F(2*n+1) 1 1 1 2 2 1 4 5 3 4 9 13 4 9 25 34 5 25 64 89 6 64 169 175 7 169 441 610 8 441 1156 1597 9 1156 3025 4181where
F2(n) + F2(n+1) = F(2*n+1)Also, a Pythagorean Triangle can be a right angled triangle with sides which are Lucas numbers:
a=L(n), b=L(n+1) and c= sqrt( 5*L(2n+1))
Here is a list of some Pythagorean triangles with sides which are Lucas numbers:
n L2(n) L2(n+1) 5*F(2*n+1) 1 1 9 10 2 9 16 25 3 16 49 65 4 49 121 170 5 121 324 445 6 324 841 1165 7 841 2209 3050 8 2209 5776 7985 9 5776 15129 7305where
L2(n) + L2(n+1) = 5*F(2*n+1)or
By adding the square of Fibonacci ( or Lucas ) numbers we obtain many interesting relations:
F2(n) + 2*F2(n+1) + F2(n+2)= L(2*n+2)L2(n) + 2*L2(n+1) + L2(n+2) = 5*L(2*n+2)and
F2(n) + 3*F2(n+1) + 3*F2(n+2) + F2(n+3) = 5*F(2*n+3)L2(n) + 3*L2(n+1) + 3*L2(n+2) + L2(n+3)= 25*F(2*n+3)and
F2(n)+4F2(n+1)+6F2(n+2)+4F2(n+3)+F2(n+4)=5L(2n+4)L2(n)+4L2(n+1)+6L2(n+2)+4L2(n+3)+L2(n+4)=25L(2n+4)and
F2(n)+5F2(n+1)+10F2(n+2)+10F2(n+3)+5F2(n+4)+F2(n+5)=25F(2n+5)L2(n)+5L2(n+1)+10L2(n+2)+10L2(n+3)+5L2(n+4)+L2(n+5)=125F(2n+5)and so on...
or
In general case we have the next relation between Lucas and Fibonacci numbers:
See Also: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature Fibonacci Numbers and the Pascal Triangle FIBONACCI IDENTITIES FROM MATRICES AND VECTORS Fibonacci Numbers and The Natural Logarithmic Base, e Archimedes` constant PI and the Fibonacci Numbers
© 2001-2005 Radoslav Jovanovic translated by Dragutin Filipovic created: October 2002.