Friday, April 9, 2010

Archimedes' Grave

Archimedes made a plenitude of significant scientific discoveries throughout his life. He designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water as well as mirror arrays capable of focusing sun rays and setting enemy ships on fire. He explained why and how bodies float in the water, helping the king verify that his crown is indeed made out of pure gold. He was fascinated with infinity and found the way of approximating the number Pi as well as counting the number of grains of sand that will fit inside the universe. He died telling a Roman soldier that he is too busy to meet a general as he was contemplating yet another mathematical diagram. His tomb was decorated with his favorite discovery .... What do you think it is? Explain why to get a puzzle point.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Archimedes discovered the relationship between a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder of the same height and diameter. The sphere has a volume and surface area two-thirds that of the cylinder. A sculpted sphere and cylinder were placed on his tomb at his request.

No points for me though because I googled the answer :o)

Anonymous said...

Me too; sometimes that is easiest.
And the others would be "so easy."
More math plz.

Tom

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.