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Essay on Archimedes

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In the city-state of Syracuse, Sicily a Greek mathematician who would soon make history was born: Archimedes From his birth to his adulthood, he proved just how much of a difference one man could make. Through the use of science and mathematics, Archimedes was able to leave a major impact on ancient society. During his youth, Archimedes was an ambitious learner. His father, Phidias, would make Archimedes solve numerous math problems. He solved most of them correctly, proving to his father that he was worthy of a solid education (Zannos 21). He studied in Alexandria, Egypt under the guidance of Euclid. Besides math, Phidias would often take Archimedes for walks at night. During those walks, Archimedes was intrigued by the stars of the …show more content…

King Heiron had just received his crown from the goldsmith and asked Archimedes to test if it was pure gold. Using the density of gold and laws of hydrostatics, Archimedes determined that it was not pure gold and that some of it had in fact been replaced by a cheaper metal. The goldsmith had cheated the king (Hoffman 32). Without Archimedes, the king would have never known the truth. In the field of Mathematics, Archimedes was able to make the most advances in the subject of Geometry. To help people have a better grip on what exactly Geometry was, Archimedes wrote a few books. His three most notable novels were Measurement of a Circle, On Spirals, and On the Sphere and Cylinder. In his books, Archimedes didn’t just tell the reader how Geometry worked; instead, he explained his theorems through careful reasoning (Gow 12). Archimedes made two more theoretical discoveries about Geometry. He discovered the relationship between volumes of spheres and cylinders with the equivalent radius. Not only that, but he also found more accurate measurements of Pi (Gow 7). People believe that Archimedes enjoyed theoretical discoveries much more over practical discoveries. Geometry was all about theory. His love and passion for these types of findings allowed him to discover more and more about Geometry. Archimedes did

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