What's Your Angle, Pythagoras?

Pythagoras met a builder. His name was Neferhephersekeper but people called him Nef. Pythagoras saw a lighthouse that Nef built and asked,"How did you make that lighthouse so straight?"

"I used a magic rope." he said and lifted his hand to show the rope that had twelve knots on it. But Nef didn't want to tell Pythagoras the secret to how this rope was used. Pythagoras found out that he had to put 3 knots at the bottom, 4 on the wall and 5 slanted from the wall down to the floor. That gave a right triangle.

Nef helped Pythagoras and his father carry some tiles to the shore because Nef bought the tiles from them. He said, "Let me get the money to pay you."

Pythagoras' father and Nef went to deal with the money. Pythagoras wanted to play with the tiles on the floor. He saw a triangular base made of stone. He arranged three tiles on one side of the base and two more rows of three to make a square. On the second side he did the same but with a square of four. On the third side he did the same but with a square of five.

He found out that (square of 3) + (square of 4) = (square of 5). When we square a number, we mulitply a number by itself. He found out that this works for any right triangle. If you know the length of the two shorter sides you can find out the length of the longest side. Pythagoras is very clever because many people don't know this - even his father!

It helped his friends and his father do their jobs. He helped his frends by making their ladder long enough to reach the top of the temple they are building. It helped his farther measure how long it was from their island to Crete.

I like this book very much because it is a true story.