Mathematical Evolution of Concept

Babylonian Tablet that states Pythagorean triples (Plimpton 322)

The Babylonians and the Chinese were aware that a triangle with the sides 3,4, and 5 must be a right triangle.

Around 2500 BC, the Megalithic monuments in Egypt and Northern Europe comprised right

triangles with integer sides.

In India (8th - 2nd century BC), the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra comprised a list of Pythagorean triples, a statement of the theorem and the geometrical proof of the theorem for an isosceles right

triangle.

Pythagoras (569-475 BC), used algebraic methods to construct Pythagorean triples.

In 400 BC, Plato established a method for finding Pythagorean triples which blended both algebra

and geometry.

Around 300 BC, in the Euclid's Elements, the oldest existing axiomatic proof of the theorem is

presented.

The Chinese text Chou Pei Suan Ching written between 500 BC and 200 AD had the visual proof of the Pythagorean theorem or 'Gougu theorem' (as known in China) for the (3,4,5) triangle.

During the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), the Pythagorean triples appear in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art along with the mention of the right triangles.