The secret life of Pythagoreans and their bizarre beliefs  

You have all heard of the Pythagoras theorem, right. It’s something we all learned in school. Well, the theorem was formulated by Pythagoras, a famous ancient Greek mathematician born in 570 BC. The theorem sparked a mathematical revolution and is used till today, particularly for land surveying, navigation and construction. Pythagoras’ devotion to numbers led him to eventually start a cult, whose members were known as the Pythagoreans. His cult studied numbers and taught how to achieve mental purity through math and science. Here’s all you need to know about Pythagoras and his cult. 

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans 
Apart from being a mathematician, Pythagoras was also an influential philosopher and mystic. He established the cult of Pythagoreanism, and his followers were called Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans were the first to study regular solid shapes. They are even credited with discovering the shapes cube and the tetrahedron. But there’s something more interesting about them. They lived in secrecy and followed some truly bizarre traditions. For example, they refused to eat beans because they believed beans had souls! Even after Pythagoras died in 495 BC, the cult survived for another 200 years! His teachings were taught till the 6th century CE!  

The beliefs of the Pythagoreans 
Pythagoras believed that numbers were the end all of everything. He also believed that studying math and science was a better way to purify one’s soul than meditation. Simply put, his motto was ‘All Is Number,’. But this is not all. Pythagoras believed that only rational numbers existed. Why? Because that is how he believed God intended the universe to be. But what are rational numbers? Simply put, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the ratio of two numbers. The opposite, that is an irrational number, cannot be expressed as the ratio of two numbers. Since Pythagoras was the cult’s leader, any mathematical observation made by him was considered as the last word. There were no questions raised. For a long time, his viewpoints appeared to be correct. Some of the theories that the Pythagoreans focussed deserve special mention for sure. Their theory aided in investigating patterns in flower petals and nautilus shells. Also, they figured out that musical intervals are related to the length of the instrument’s strings.  

The discovery of irrational numbers by a Pythagorean 
Pythagoras only believed in the existence of rational numbers, and so did his followers, except for one: Hippasus of Metapontum. He had a different opinion. He discovered that not all numbers are rational, and some may be irrational too. Hippasus demonstrated that the square root of 2 is an irrational number. It cannot be expressed as a ratio or as the sum of two whole numbers. This great discovery shattered Pythagoras’ beliefs. According to a legend, unable to accept the concept of irrational numbers, Pythagoras drowned Hippasus at sea! 

Today, the world of mathematics has several types of numbers, such as imaginary numbers, integers, natural numbers and complex numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers was significant in the development of maths. Unfortunately, the inventor is not properly credited.