Chapter 653
Although this made Vesippus and the others a little frustrated, it also motivated them to study harder.
In addition, what made Vesippus and the others curious was that since the beginning of the scholars' conference, there had been an endless stream of Diónia citizens coming to the academy to listen to the lectures. The entire academy was filled with people, and even Turií had to send soldiers into the academy to maintain order. In the end, the academy imposed a rule that only a fixed number of people would be allowed to enter the academy every day. Even so, there were still many people wandering outside the academy every day.
Aurelias had talked to them before. Among these people were public officials, farmers, merchants, craftsmen … Turií, Campania, Magna Graecia, Apulia, Sicily … Not only Greeks, but also Lucanians, Bruti, Messapians … Most of them had studied in schools in various cities of Diónia. Even though they were busy with their daily lives, they were still eager for knowledge.
From the questions they asked in the meeting, it was evident that their level of knowledge was not low, which surprised Vesippus, Aurelius, and the others, because speeches and exchanges of this level were usually done by a few people, and knowledge was not widespread in many Greek city-states, even in a prosperous city like Athens. Every year, when the Athens Citizens' Assembly elected generals or expelled politicians, it was common for illiterate citizens to ask others to write on pottery for them … The people of Diónia were so enthusiastic in their pursuit of knowledge that it made them feel ashamed.
In the afternoon, Aurelias and the others hurried from the Faculty of Philosophy to the Faculty of Mathematics because there was a speech by Forstkada.
The scholars' conference held in Diónia also provided a stage for young scholars. As long as their application was approved, they could also give a speech on the stage, interspersed with the speeches of well-known scholars.
Of course, most of the young people on the stage were students of Diónia. After all, they were more well-prepared, so naturally, more of them passed the assessment.
Fostercada was the first student of Dionysia Academy that Speesippus and Aurelias knew and had a good relationship with. He had invited them to Cristoya's restaurant in the city last night, so Speesippus and Aurelias naturally wanted to show their support. At the same time, Speesippus and Aurelias were curious about what Fostercada would say, because he had been very tight-lipped during their conversation last night.
When they entered the venue, Foster's speech had already begun.
What they saw was a surprising scene: some of the audience shouted and wanted to rush onto the stage, but they were stopped by the soldiers. Some people even threw stones at the stage. Surrounded by his classmates, Foster Kada fearlessly explained his point in a louder voice while writing his argument on the black wall with a white pen made of limestone.
"What's the title of Forstkada's speech?" Olas quickly asked the audience beside him.
The listener said impatiently, "On the Existence of Numbers Other than Whole Numbers and Integer Ratios." Then, he continued to listen attentively.
Aurelias felt that this question was somewhat familiar.
"Hipparsos!" Vesypus reminded him from the side.
Realization dawned on Ole Ajax. The reason why he found it familiar was that the topic was related to an academic tragedy that happened in Greece decades ago.
Hippasus was a native of Metapontum, a disciple of the Pythagorean school. When he was studying a regular pentagon, he found that its diagonals and side lengths could not be expressed by whole numbers or integer ratios. Then, he found that the same thing was true for the side lengths and diagonals of a square.
Therefore, with a spirit of exploration, he confirmed one thing after repeated verification: other than whole numbers and integer ratios, there was another kind of number that could not be divided evenly. It could not be divided to get an accurate number, and it could not be divided inexhaustibly, and it could not be repeated.
Then, he put forward his point of view in a discussion among the members of the school.
The members of the Pythagorean school panicked because if Hippasus' discovery was confirmed and popularized, it would overturn the philosophical idea put forward by the founder of the school, Pythagoras. "All things are numbers, one is the generator of all numbers, and everything in the universe is reduced to integer ratios." As a result, the other members of the Pythagorean school imprisoned Hippasus and eventually threw him into the sea, where he drowned.
However, this incident eventually spread after the complaint of Hippasus' family.
Aurelias knew that there was such an incident, but he did not know the details of it. However, when he saw the angry and protesting audience, he knew that they must be members of the Pythagorean school. He could not help but feel nervous for Forstcader.
However, Forstcader did not pay any attention to these people's arrogance. He calmly continued to solve the problem on the wall.
Vesippus stared at the wall. He saw that the numbers and symbols used by Forstcader were the "Devers Number." It was said that the Devers King was inspired to invent it by Hades. This "Devers Number" was originally only popular in the Kingdom of Diónia. Later, it spread to other city-states through merchants, and gradually, it was accepted by the people of other city-states and even scholars. After all, it was too convenient and fast in counting and calculation. In particular, it eliminated the trouble of the Greeks in counting large numbers. Therefore, scholars and people present today could basically understand it.
Fostercada drew a square on the wainscoting. He set each side to be one, and then he solved for the length of the diagonal. Ironically, Fostercada used the Pythagorean theorem invented by Pythagoras. The result of the calculation was that the length of the diagonal became the square root of two.
Forstcader then used the method commonly used by the Pythagorean school — the method of reductio ad absurdum — to prove that the number could not be expressed as the ratio of two integers. After he successfully proved it, he continued to try to calculate the square root of two.
This time, he used an algorithm he called the "dichotomy method." Seeing that the whole wall was almost filled with the words, he threw away the white pen, wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to the audience, and said loudly, "According to my calculation, the length of the diagonal of this square should be 1.4142 … This number is not the end. It will be endless and non-circular. It cannot be written as the ratio of two integers, so it is not a natural number. I call it an unnatural number …"
"Shut up!"
"Nonsense!"
"Everything you've said is wrong. There's no such number! What right do you, a little student, have to slander the great Pythagoras! Insult our school! Get down here and let us teach you a good lesson! " The members of the Pythagorean school shouted loudly.
In the front row of the venue, the deputy dean of the School of Mathematics, Mattikoris, stood up angrily and shouted, "What are you doing! This is the Diónia School, not Tarantum! Soldiers, get these idiots who are not listening carefully in class but causing trouble out of here! "
Mattikoris was a senior member of the kingdom. As soon as he said this, the soldiers immediately rushed up to arrest the troublemakers.
The venue was in chaos. A member of the Pythagorean school shouted angrily, "Mattikoris, you traitor! I knew you would use the power of Diónia to suppress the Pythagorean school because you can't compete with us academically! Originally, we came to Turií to see what new ideas you have, but I didn't expect … Bah! What All-Greek Scholars Conference! I think it's just a pile of sh * t! "
"Whether the All-Greek Scholars Conference is good or not, it's not up to you to comment!" A loud voice came from the entrance of the venue.
"Your Majesty Devers!"
"Your Majesty!!!"
...
Amidst the exclamations of the audience, the Devers strode to the podium.
Intimidated by the power of the Devers, the members of the Pythagorean school also stopped shouting, and soon there was a strange silence in the venue.
The Devers walked up to the podium, and Forstkada respectfully saluted him.
The Devers patted him gently on the shoulder, then faced the audience, and said in a deep voice, "This is a sacred place for imparting knowledge and exchanging knowledge. Verbal abuse and fighting are prohibited. Violators will be punished. This is the law of Diónia, and I hope you will not violate it. Otherwise, no matter who you are, you will be punished by the law!"
"Your Majesty, we have no intention of violating the law of Diónia. However, at such an influential conference, the School of Diónia deliberately chose such a topic to smear and slander the respected ancestor of our school, Pythagoras, wantonly attack the reputation of our school, and destroy the unity between Diónia and Tarantum. I don't think this is what you want to see … I hope Your Majesty can deal with the perpetrators of this matter seriously! " As an important member of the Pythagorean school, Lycis did not make a scene like the others. Instead, he used his sharp eloquence to protest righteously.
"Your Majesty, listen to me …" Martikoris was eager to argue, but the Devers' knife-like eyes swept over him. He felt guilty and stopped talking.
The Devers had coordinated the schedule of the conference before, so he roughly knew the topic of the speech of the well-known scholars, but he did not know the content of the speech of the young scholars, because it was all reviewed and arranged by each school. But as a disciple of the Pythagorean school, how could Matticles not have known the effect of such a thing, and had secretly arranged for a student to speak on such a subject without informing him of it, Dyves would have been displeased with him, for it might have ruined the assembly, which had been so painstakingly organized.
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