Encyclopedia

In mathematics

Kurt Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape WWII...

in 1940 and Paul Cohen

Paul Cohen (mathematician)
Paul Joseph Cohen was an American mathematician best known for his proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis and the
axiom of choice from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the most widely accepted axiomatization of set theory.-Early years:Cohen was born in
Long Branch, New Jersey, into a...

in 1963 showed that the hypothesis can neither be disproved nor be proved
Mathematical proof

In mathematics, a proof is a convincing demonstration that some mathematical statement is necessarily true. Proofs are obtained from
deductive reasoning, rather than from inductive or empirical arguments. That is, a proof must demonstrate that a statement is true in all
cases, without a single...

using the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory

Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory
In mathematics, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel
and commonly abbreviated ZFC, is one of several axiomatic systems that were proposed in the early twentieth century to formulate a theory
of sets without the paradoxes...

, the standard foundation of modern mathematics, provided set theory is consistent

Consistency
Consistency can refer to:* Consistency , the psychological need to be consistent with prior acts and statements* "Consistency", an 1887
speech by Mark Twain...

The name of the hypothesis comes from the term the continuum
Continuum (set theory)
In the mathematical field of set theory, the continuum means the real numbers, or the corresponding cardinal number, .The cardinality of the
continuum is the cardinality of the real line. The continuum hypothesis is sometimes stated by saying that no cardinality lies between that of
the continuum...

for the real numbers.Cardinality of infinite sets

Two sets are said to have the same cardinality
Cardinality
In mathematics, the cardinality of a set is a measure of the "number of elements of the set". For example, the set A = {2, 4, 6} contains 3
elements, and therefore A has a cardinality of 3. There are two approaches to cardinality – one which compares sets directly using bijections
and...
r cardinal number
Cardinal number

In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality of sets.
The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number – the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of
infinite...

if there exists a bijection

Bijection

In mathematics, a bijection, or a bijective function, is a function f from a set X to a set Y with the property that, for every y in Y, there is exactly
one x in X such that f = y and no unmapped element exists in either X or Y.Alternatively, f is bijective if it is a one-to-one correspondence...

(a one-to-one correspondence) between them. Intuitively, for two sets S and T to have the same cardinality means that it is possible to "pair
off" elements of S with elements of T in such a fashion that every element of S is paired off with exactly one element of T and vice versa.
Hence, the set {banana, apple, pear} has the same cardinality as {yellow, red, green}.

With infinite sets such as the set of integer

Integer

The integers are formed by the natural numbers including 0 together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers...

s or rational number
Rational number
In mathematics a rational number is any number that can be expressed as the quotient a/b of two integers, with the denominator b not equal
to zero. Since b may be equal to 1, every integer is a rational number...

s, this becomes more complicated to demonstrate. The rational numbers seemingly form a counterexample to the continuum hypothesis: the
rationals form a proper superset of the integers, and a proper subset of the reals, so intuitively, there are more rational numbers than
integers, and fewer rational numbers than real numbers. However, this intuitive analysis does not take account of the fact that all three sets
are infinite
Infinite set
In set theory, an infinite set is a set that is not a finite set. Infinite sets may be countable or uncountable. Some examples are:* the set of all
integers, {..., -1, 0, 1, 2, ...}, is a countably infinite set; and...

. It turns out the rational numbers can actually be placed in one-to-one correspondence with the integers, and therefore the set of rational
numbers is the same size (cardinality) as the set of integers: they are both countable set
Countable set

In mathematics, a countable set is a set with the same cardinality as some subset of the set of natural numbers. A set that is not countable is
called uncountable. The term was originated by Georg Cantor...

s.

Cantor gave two proofs that the cardinality of the set of integer
Integer

The integers are formed by the natural numbers including 0 together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers...

s is strictly smaller than that of the set of real number

Real number
In mathematics, the real numbers include both rational numbers, such as 42 and −23/129, and irrational numbers, such as pi and the square
root of two; or, a real number can be given by an infinite decimal representation, such as 2.4871773339..., where the digits continue in some
way; or, the real...

s; the second of these is his diagonal argument

Cantor's diagonal argument
Cantor's diagonal argument, also called the diagonalisation argument, the diagonal slash argument or the diagonal method, was published in
1891 by Georg Cantor as a proof that there are infinite sets which cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with the infinite set of
natural numbers...

. His proofs, however, give no indication of the extent to which the cardinality of the natural numbers is less than that of the real numbers.
Cantor proposed the continuum hypothesis as a possible solution to this question.

The hypothesis states that the set of real numbers has minimal possible cardinality which is greater than the cardinality of the set of integers.
Equivalently, as the cardinality
Cardinal number

In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality of sets.
The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number – the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of
infinite...

of the integers is \aleph_0 ("aleph-null

Aleph number

In set theory, the aleph numbers are a sequence of numbers used to represent the cardinality of infinite sets. They are named after the
symbol used to denote them, the Hebrew letter aleph ....

") and the cardinality of the real numbers is 2^{\aleph_0}, the continuum hypothesis says that there is no set S for which \aleph_0 < |S| <
2^{\aleph_0}.
Assuming the axiom of choice
Axiom of choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of
bins, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each bin, even if there are infinitely
many bins and...

, there is a smallest cardinal number \aleph_1 greater than \aleph_0, and the continuum hypothesis is in turn equivalent to the
equality2^{\aleph_0} = \aleph_1.
There is also a generalization of the continuum hypothesis called the generalized continuum hypothesis (GCH) which says that for all
ordinals
Ordinal number

In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive
sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...

\alpha\,2^{\aleph_\alpha} = \aleph_{\alpha+1}.

A consequence of the hypothesis is that every infinite subset

Subset

In mathematics, especially in set theory, a set A is a subset of a set B if A is "contained" inside B. A and B may coincide...

of the real numbers either has the same cardinality as the integers or the same cardinality as the entire set of the reals.

Impossibility of proof and disproof in ZFC

Cantor believed the continuum hypothesis to be true and tried for many years to prove
Mathematical proof

In mathematics, a proof is a convincing demonstration that some mathematical statement is necessarily true. Proofs are obtained from
deductive reasoning, rather than from inductive or empirical arguments. That is, a proof must demonstrate that a statement is true in all
cases, without a single...

it, in vain. It became the first on David Hilbert's list of important open questions
Hilbert's problems
Hilbert's problems are a list of twenty-three problems in mathematics published by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900. The
problems were all unsolved at the time, and several of them were very influential for 20th century mathematics...

that was presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians

International Congress of Mathematicians
The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted
by the International Mathematical Union ....

in the year 1900 in Paris. Axiomatic set theory was at that point not yet formulated.

Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel

Kurt Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape WWII...

showed in 1940 that the continuum hypothesis (CH for short) cannot be disproved from the standard Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (ZF),
even if the axiom of choice
Axiom of choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of
bins, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each bin, even if there are infinitely
many bins and...

is adopted (ZFC). Paul Cohen

Paul Cohen (mathematician)
Paul Joseph Cohen was an American mathematician best known for his proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis and the
axiom of choice from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the most widely accepted axiomatization of set theory.-Early years:Cohen was born in
Long Branch, New Jersey, into a...

showed in 1963 that CH cannot be proven from those same axioms either. Hence, CH is independent
Independence (mathematical logic)
In mathematical logic, independence refers to the unprovability of a sentence from other sentences.A sentence σ is independent of a given
first-order theory T if T neither proves nor refutes σ; that is, it is impossible to prove σ from T, and it is also impossible to prove from T...

of ZFC. Both of these results assume that the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms themselves do not contain a contradiction; this assumption is widely
believed to be true.

The continuum hypothesis was not the first statement shown to be independent of ZFC. An immediate consequence of Gödel's
incompleteness theorem, which was published in 1931, is that there is a formal statement expressing the consistency of ZFC that is
independent of ZFC. This consistency statement is of a metamathematical, rather than purely mathematical, character. The continuum
hypothesis and the axiom of choice
Axiom of choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of
bins, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each bin, even if there are infinitely
many bins and...

were among the first mathematical statements shown to be independent of ZF set theory. These independence proofs were not completed
until Paul Cohen developed forcing
Forcing (mathematics)
In the mathematical discipline of set theory, forcing is a technique invented by Paul Cohen for proving consistency and independence results.
It was first used, in 1962, to prove the independence of the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice from Zermelo–Fraenkel set
theory...

in the 1960s.

The continuum hypothesis is closely related to many statements in analysis

Mathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis, which mathematicians refer to simply as analysis, has its beginnings in the rigorous formulation of calculus. It is the
branch of pure mathematics most explicitly concerned with the notion of a limit, whether the limit of a sequence or the limit of a function...

, point set topology

Topology

Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with spatial properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, for
example, deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...

and measure theory. As a result of its independence, many substantial conjecture

Conjecture
A conjecture is a proposition that is unproven but appears correct and has not been disproven. Karl Popper pioneered the use of the term
"conjecture" in scientific philosophy. Conjecture is contrasted by hypothesis , which is a testable statement based on accepted grounds...

s in those fields have subsequently been shown to be independent as well.

So far, CH appears to be independent of all known large cardinal axioms in the context of ZFC.

Gödel and Cohen's negative results are not universally accepted as disposing of the hypothesis, and Hilbert's problem remains an active
topic of contemporary research (see Woodin 2001a).

Arguments for and against CH

Gödel believed that CH is false and that his proof that CH is consistent only shows that the Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms do not adequately
describe the universe of sets. Gödel was a platonist and therefore had no problems with asserting the truth and falsehood of statements
independent of their provability. Cohen, though a formalist, also tended towards rejecting CH.

Historically, mathematicians who favored a "rich" and "large" universe

Universe (mathematics)
In mathematics, and particularly in set theory and the foundations of mathematics, a universe is a class that contains all the entities one
wishes to consider in a given situation...

of sets were against CH, while those favoring a "neat" and "controllable" universe favored CH. Parallel arguments were made for and
against the axiom of constructibility
Axiom of constructibility
The axiom of constructibility is a possible axiom for set theory in mathematics that asserts that every set is constructible. The axiom is
usually written as "V = L", where V and L denote the von Neumann universe and the constructible universe, respectively.- Implications :The
axiom of...

, which implies CH. More recently, Matthew Foreman

Matthew Foreman
Matthew Dean Foreman is a set theorist at University of California, Irvine. He has made contributions in widely varying areas of set theory,
including descriptive set theory, forcing, and infinitary combinatorics....

has pointed out that ontological maximalism

Ontological maximalism
In philosophy, ontological maximalism is a preference for largest possible universe, i.e. anything which could exist does exist.- See also
:*Ontology*Maximalism*Large cardinal property*Continuum hypothesis...

can actually be used to argue in favor of CH, because among models that have the same reals, models with "more" sets of reals have a
better chance of satisfying CH (Maddy 1988, p. 500).

Another viewpoint is that the conception of set is not specific enough to determine whether CH is true or false. This viewpoint was advanced
as early as 1923 by Skolem, even before Gödel's first incompleteness theorem. Skolem argued on the basis of what is now known as
Skolem's paradox
Skolem's paradox
In mathematical logic and philosophy, Skolem's paradox is a seeming contradiction that arises from the downward Löwenheim-Skolem
theorem. Thoralf Skolem was the first to discuss the seemingly contradictory aspects of the theorem, and to discover the relativity of set-
theoretic notions now known as...

, and it was later supported by the independence of CH from the axioms of ZFC, since these axioms are enough to establish the elementary
properties of sets and cardinalities. In order to argue against this viewpoint, it would be sufficient to demonstrate new axioms that are
supported by intuition and resolve CH in one direction or another. Although the axiom of constructibility does resolve CH, it is not generally
considered to be intuitively true any more than CH is generally considered to be false (Kunen 1980, p. 171).

At least two other axioms have been proposed that have implications for the continuum hypothesis, although these axioms have not
currently found wide acceptance in the mathematical community. In 1986, Chris Freiling presented an argument against CH by showing that
the negation of CH is equivalent to Freiling's axiom of symmetry
Freiling's axiom of symmetry
Freiling's axiom of symmetry is a set-theoretic axiom proposed by Chris Freiling. It is based on intuition of Stuart Davidsonbut the
mathematics behind it goes back to Wacław Sierpiński....
, a statement about probabilities
Probability
Probability is a way of expressing knowledge or belief that an event will occur or has occurred. In mathematics the concept has been given
an exact meaning in probability theory, that is used extensively in such areas of study as mathematics, statistics, finance, gambling, science,
and philosophy...

. Freiling believes this axiom is "intuitively true" but others have disagreed. A difficult argument against CH developed by W. Hugh Woodin
W. Hugh Woodin
William Hugh Woodin is a set theorist at University of California, Berkeley. He has made many notable contributions to the theory of inner
models and determinacy. A type of large cardinal, the Woodin cardinal, bears his name.-Biography:He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in
1984 under Robert M....

has attracted considerable attention since the year 2000 (Woodin 2001a, 2001b). Foreman (2003) does not reject Woodin's argument
outright but urges caution.

The generalized continuum hypothesis

The generalized continuum hypothesis (GCH) states that if an infinite set's cardinality lies between that of an infinite set S and that of the
power set
Power set

In mathematics, given a set S, the power set of S, written , P, ℘ or 2 S, is the set of all subsets of S, including the empty set and S itself. In
axiomatic set theory In mathematics, given a set S, the power set (or powerset) of S, written , P(S), ℘(S) or 2S, is...

of S, then it either has the same cardinality as the set S or the same cardinality as the power set of S. That is, for any infinite cardinal
Cardinal number

In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality of sets.
The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number – the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of
infinite...

\lambda\, there is no cardinal \kappa\, such that \lambda <\kappa <2^{\lambda}.\, An equivalent condition is that
\aleph_{\alpha+1}=2^{\aleph_\alpha} for every ordinal
Ordinal number

In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive
sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...

\alpha.\, The beth number

Beth number
In mathematics, the infinite cardinal numbers are represented by the Hebrew letter indexed with a subscript that runs over the ordinal
numbers...

s provide an alternate notation for this condition: \aleph_\alpha=\beth_\alpha for every ordinal \alpha.\,

This is a generalization of the continuum hypothesis since the continuum has the same cardinality as the power set
Power set

In mathematics, given a set S, the power set of S, written , P, ℘ or 2 S, is the set of all subsets of S, including the empty set and S itself. In
axiomatic set theory In mathematics, given a set S, the power set (or powerset) of S, written , P(S), ℘(S) or 2S, is...

of the integers. Like CH, GCH is also independent of ZFC, but Sierpiński proved that ZF + GCH implies the axiom of choice
Axiom of choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of
bins, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each bin, even if there are infinitely
many bins and...

(AC), so choice and GCH are not independent in ZF; there are no models of ZF in which GCH holds and AC fails.

Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel

Kurt Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape WWII...

showed that GCH is a consequence of ZF + V=L

Axiom of constructibility
The axiom of constructibility is a possible axiom for set theory in mathematics that asserts that every set is constructible. The axiom is
usually written as "V = L", where V and L denote the von Neumann universe and the constructible universe, respectively.- Implications :The
axiom of...
 (the axiom that every set is constructible relative to the ordinals), and is consistent with ZFC. As GCH implies CH, Cohen's model in which
CH fails is a model in which GCH fails, and thus GCH is not provable from ZFC. W. B. Easton used the method of forcing developed by
Cohen to prove Easton's theorem
Easton's theorem
In set theory, Easton's theorem is a result on the possible cardinal numbers of powersets. W. B. showed via forcing thatand, for , that...

, which shows it is consistent with ZFC for arbitrarily large cardinals \aleph_\alpha to fail to satisfy 2^{\aleph_\alpha} = \aleph_{\alpha + 1}.
Much later, Foreman
Matthew Foreman
Matthew Dean Foreman is a set theorist at University of California, Irvine. He has made contributions in widely varying areas of set theory,
including descriptive set theory, forcing, and infinitary combinatorics....

and Woodin
W. Hugh Woodin
William Hugh Woodin is a set theorist at University of California, Berkeley. He has made many notable contributions to the theory of inner
models and determinacy. A type of large cardinal, the Woodin cardinal, bears his name.-Biography:He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in
1984 under Robert M....

proved that (assuming the consistency of very large cardinals) it is consistent that 2^\kappa>\kappa^+\, holds for every infinite cardinal
\kappa.\, Later Woodin extended this by showing the consistency of 2^\kappa=\kappa^{++}\, for every \kappa\,. A recent result of Carmi
Merimovich shows that, for each n≥1, it is consistent with ZFC that for each κ, 2 κ is the nth successor of κ. On the other hand, Laszlo Patai
proved, that if γ is an ordinal and for each infinite cardinal κ, 2κ is the γth successor of κ, then γ is finite.

For any infinite sets A and B, if there is an injection from A to B then there is an injection from subsets of A to subsets of B. Thus for any
infinite cardinals A and B,A < B \to 2^A \le 2^B.
If A and B are finite, the stronger inequalityA < B \to 2^A < 2^B \!
holds. GCH implies that this strict, stronger inequality holds for infinite cardinals as well as finite cardinals.

Implications of GCH for cardinal exponentiation

Although the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis refers directly only to cardinal exponentiation with 2 as the base, one can deduce from it
the values of cardinal exponentiation in all cases. It implies that \aleph_{\alpha}^{\aleph_{\beta}} is:\aleph_{\beta+1} when α ≤
β+1;\aleph_{\alpha} when β+1 < α and \aleph_{\beta} < \operatorname{cf} (\aleph_{\alpha}) where cf is the cofinality
Cofinality
In mathematics, especially in order theory, the cofinality cf of a partially ordered set A is the least of the cardinalities of the cofinal subsets of
A....

operation; and\aleph_{\alpha+1} when β+1 < α and \aleph_{\beta} \ge \operatorname{cf} (\aleph_{\alpha}).
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. GFDL.In mathematics,
The text of this article is licensed under the
the cardinality of the continuum, sometimes also called the power of the continuum, is the size (cardinality) of the set of real

numbers (sometimes called the continuum). The cardinality of is denoted by or by the symbol (a lowercase Fraktur

letter C). As a cardinal number, is equal to Beth one ( ). If the continuum hypothesis holds, then is also equal to

Aleph one ( ).

Georg Cantor showed that the cardinality of the continuum is larger than that of the set of natural numbers , namely where
(aleph-nought) denotes the cardinality of . In other words, although and are both infinite sets, the real numbers are in some
sense "more numerous" than the natural numbers.
The early Pythagorean belief that "all was (Natural) number" meant that they did not consider fractions as numbers. What
we consider as fractions today were seen by the early Pythagoreans as ratios of Natural numbers as in the musical scales
above, not as numbers in their own right. It was fundamental to the beliefs of the early Pythagoreans that all things
(abstract, natural, human affairs) were understandable by considering the intrinsic properties of Natural numbers and their
ratios. This was the foundation of the faith and scholarship of Pythagoras and essential to this faith was the concept of
commensurability. Heath quotes the first scholium on Book X of the Elements as stating:
"..the Pythagoreans were the first to address themselves to the investigation of commensurability, having discovered it by
means of their observation of numbers...They called all magnitudes measurable by the same measure commensurable"
For example, the number 8 can be measured in twos - the rectangular number 4 x 2, 12 can be also measured in twos - the
rectangular number 6 x 2, so 8 and 12 are commensurable as they both can be measured in twos . Similarly with geometry,
they reasoned that given any two line segments of unequal length, it should always be possible to find a third line segment,
perhaps very small, that can be marked off a whole number of times into each of the given segments. With the concept of
commensurability, the early Pythagoreans could confidently base their faith on "all is number". If any pair of numbers were
found to be incommensurable then the philosophical foundation of the Order would be threatened. It is generally accepted that such a
threat did eventuate in Pythagoras' time and that it arose in the investigation of the cherished Pythagorean Theorem.
The discovery which created such a threat to Pythagoreanism was that natural numbers or their ratio are not sufficient when comparing the
length of the diagonal of a square to its side. It is not possible to find a Natural number which measures both the diagonal and the side of a
square. Similarly it is not possible to find a small length which can be marked off a whole number of times into both the diagonal and the
side. The belief that all the secrets of the Universe would be found in Natural numbers was in tatters. There existed, contrary to intuition,
incommensurable numbers and line segments. We call the numbers needed to represent the length of the diagonal, the irrational numbers
meaning - "unable to be expressed as a ratio".

The early Pythagoreans have been credited with the discovery of the irrational number , though it is not clear whether they had
expanded their investigations into any other surds. Certainly within the next couple of centuries many of the smaller surds were identified.
The discovery of the irrationals and the philosophical difficulties it created in number theory diverted Greek mathematics to the rigours of
geometry where the measure of incommensurables was less troublesome - they could represent a line of length even if they couldn't
measure it, simply by drawing the diagonal of a unit square. Heath claims:
"...it was inevitable that the Pythagoreans should investigate the relations between sides and hypotenuse of other right-angled triangles.
They would naturally give special attention to to the isosceles right-angled triangle; they would try to measure the diagonal, would arrive at
successive approximations, in rational fractions, to the value of , and would find that successive efforts to obtain an exact expression for
it failed. It was however an enormous step to conclude that such exact expression was impossible, and it was this step which the
Pythagoreans made. ... The actual method by which the Pythagoreans proved the incommensurability of with unity, was no doubt that
referred to by Aristotle, (...) a reductio ad absurdum by which it is proved that, if the diagonal is commensurable with the side, it will follow
that the same number is both odd and even."
The Pythagorean proof is still as elegant and breathtaking in its logical structure today as it was then. The proof "reductio ad absurdum" is
also called " Proof by Contradiction"; that is, we assume that there is a fraction in lowest terms whose square is 2, and we will logically
deduce from this that the fraction is even and simultaneously is odd. This obvious fallacy means that we are then forced to reject the
proposition that there is a fraction whose square is 2. The Pythagorean proof (in modern language) is thought to have gone like this:

Suppose AC, the diagonal of a square, to be commensurable with AB, its side.

Therefore the original supposition that the diagonal of a square is

commensurable with its side is not possible. So incommensurable or irrational
numbers exist.
If, as has been asserted, the two discoveries of The Theorem and the presence of number patterns in music started the Pythagoreans
along the road to science, surely the discovery of this simply elegant and beautiful proof must have convinced them that they were on the
right road.