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Page 16

Pythagoras as a mater of fact is at the root of all geom. Instead of growing grapes figs dates and other produce of greece Pythagoras aplied himself to triangles and learned some astounding things about them which hav been inflicted on boys ever since.

Whenever he found a new thing about a triangle Pythagoras who had no shame jumped out of his bath and shouted 'Q.E.D' through the streets of athens its a wonder they never locked him up.

To do geom you have to make a lot of things equal to each other when you can see perfectly well that they don't. This agane is due to Pythagoras and it formed much of his conversation at brekfast.

PYTHAGORAS (helping himself to porridge): Hmm. I see the sum of the squares on AB and BC = the square on AC.

WIFE: Dear dear.

PYTHAGORAS: I'm not surprised, not surprised at all. I've been saying that would come for years.

WIFE: Yes dear.

PYTHAGORAS: Now they'll have to do something about it. More tea please. There's another thing - the day is coming when they're going to have to face the fact that a strate line if infinitely protracted goes on for ever.

WIFE: Quite so.

PYTHAGORAS: Now take the angle a, for xsample.

(His wife suddenly loses control and thro the porridge at him. Enter Euclid: another weed and the 2 bores go off together)


Geoffrey Willans, DOWN WITH SKOOL!, 1953