ArchimedesArchimedes was born in Syracuse, Sicily in 287 BC, fathered by an astronomer named Phidias. Archimedes helped develop many of the formulas used in modern day mathematics like geometry. Very little is known about this famous man other than reports, because it was so long ago that he lived, but he is still to this day known as a great mathematician.It is reported by some authors that he visited Egypt and there invented a device now known as Archimedes' screw. This is a pump, still used in many parts of the world. It is highly likely that, when he was a young man, Archimedes stud ...view middle of the document...
Archimedes, originally achieved fame by his mechanical inventions, although he believed that pure mathematics was the only worthy pursuit. Archimedes attitude was incredible, always willing to learn more and achieve greater knowledge. Archimedes did in fact use some very practical methods to discover results from pure geometry. He perfected a method of integration which allowed him to find areas, volumes and surface areas of many bodies; and he also gave an accurate approximation to p and showed that he could approximate square roots correctly. His most famous theorem gives the weight of a body immersed in liquid, called Archimedes' Principle.The works of Archimedes which have survived are as follows. On plane equilibriums (two books), Quadrature of the parabola, On the sphere and cylinder (two books), On spirals, On conoids and spheroids, On floating bodies (two books), Measurement of a circle, and The Sandreckoner. Although very little is known about him, the achievements Archimedes made were outstanding. He is considered on of the greatest mathematicians of all time by historians and present day mathematicians alike, and we will always use his genius formulas in everyday math.
