#rigthtriangle
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True story! (Well, actually, they took Hippasus out on a lake, where he had "a boating accident".)

#purplemath #mathhumor #Pythagoras #Pythagoreans #rationalnumbers #irrationalnumber #irrationals #Hippasus #rigthtriangle
A four-panel comic, with two squares in each of two rows. Row 1, left-hand image: Two persons are shown, with one (labeled "Pythagoras") standing behind and to the right of the one (labeled "Hippasus") seated at a table looking at a sheet of paper in front of him. Hippasus says, "Hey bro! Look at what I wrote!" Row 1, right-hand image: We see what Pythagoras is seeing by looking over Hippasus' shoulder. A right triangle is shown, having legs of length 1 and thus having an hypotenuse of length the square root of 2. (Pythagoras led a group that believed, with religious fervor, that all numerical values are rational. The existence of an irrational number like the square root of 2 could cause severe cognitive dissonance.) Row 2, left-hand image: We see a close-up of Pythagoras' face, eyes narrowed, as he examines Hippasus' drawing. Row 2, right-hand image: Pythagoras is shown in a throwing stance, ready to hurl something with all his strength. Hippasus is shown, maybe the size of a house-cat, in Pythagoras' left hand, clearing being what Pythagoras intends to toss away as hard as he can. The caption says, "Yeet Hippasus".
September 25, 2025 at 5:11 PM