Mazz Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Have you ever thought about the range of words which have a Grecian root? There are lots of such words in mathematics, like "geometry". Some of these words have an interesting derivation. A contemporary of Pythagoras was watching a parrot playing with some twigs, once upon a time. Although birds often play with twigs and leaves and branches, this parrot, to the mathematician's amazement, actually arranged the pieces of wood into some sort of a pattern. Then, unfortunately, the bird keeled over, dead. The mathematician was so moved that he named the shape, "Dead parrot" although -- of course -- he said it in Greek. Which is why we call that shape a polygon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robke Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 I had to groan at that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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