ARCHIMEDES

Untitled Slide

WHO WAS HE

• Ancient Greek mathmatician
• Physicist, engineer, inventor, astronomer
• He was viewed as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity

DETAILS

• Born 287 B.C
• Died 212 B.C
• Native name was Ἀρχιμήδης
• Native to Syracuse, Italy
• Son of a mathmatician named Philius

WHAT HE DID

• He invented machines like the screw pump and compound pulleys
• Also made defensive war machines to protect Syracuse from invasion
• Those war machines were pointless though, because he died during
• The Siege of Syracuse by a Roman soldier despite orders not to harm him

METHOD OF EXHAUSTION

• Archimedes produced formulas to calculate the area of regular shapes
• Made the "Method of Exhaustion"
• to estimate the area of a circle, he made a larger polygon
• On the outside of the circle. Then enclosed it in bigger shapes to find the
• Area of a circle.

PI, NOT PIE

• By using his method, he effectively homed in on on the most important
• Number in math, π (3.14) his estimate was between 31⁄7 and 310/71
• Compared to his actual value of approx. 3.1415

SOURCES

• http://www.storyofmathematics.com/hellenistic_archimedes.html
• http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes