Was Pythagoras Chinese? + Magic Squares

To answer the question of whether teaching students about non-European mathematics makes a difference on their learning, one must reflect upon the definition of "understanding." Referring back to our class discussion last week, strong mathematical "understanding" is confidently being aware and familiar with not just one, but several approaches to a topic of mathematics. The different approaches whether they are Pythagoras or "gou-gu" have interrelations which open the brain to thinking about a topic in different ways.

Additionally, the different approaches may have been used for different applications which enables students to come up and learn more use cases about the topic, I did not know that the "gou-gu" mentioned by Chen Zi was used to calculate the distance between the sun and the earth using a shadow cast by the sun. Personally, learning different historical approaches broadens my own horizon pushing me to a better understanding.

It fascinates me that I have never heard of the "civil servant examination system" before despite its numerous modern systems deriving from the Chinese.

The basis of naming of mathematical theorems is a subjective discussion because of the fact there can exists independent analogous theories prior to the one which is brought to attention and named after. I believe in the case of naming of the Pythagorean Theorem, it is difficult to say "it should be named the gougu theorem because it existed earlier." In those days, communication was not universally accessible with other regions and thus as the article states, the isolated Chinese region, could not bring mass attention to their mathematics.

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