Did the greeks discover the irrationals?

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Philosophy 74 (2):169-176 (1999)
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Abstract

A popular view is that the great discovery of Pythagoras was that there are irrational numbers, e.g., the positive square root of two. Against this it is argued that mathematics and geometry, together with their applications, do not show that there are irrational numbers or compel assent to that proposition.

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10.1017/s0031819199000248

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Author Profiles

Charles Sayward
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Philip Hugly
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)

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