Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man of math - James Earle
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/da-vinci-s-vitruvian-man-of-math-james-earle What's so special about Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man? With arms ...
==========
This image of the Vitruvian Man, taken from Leonardo's sketches, has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the Renaissance. But why? It's a simple pen and ink drawing, right? Wrong! Let's start to answer this question with a math problem. I know how to calculate the area of a circle. I take the value for pi and multiply it by the radius squared. I also know how to take the area of a square. I multiply the base by itself. But how can I take the area of a circle and create a square with an equal area? This is a problem often called "squaring a circle" that was first proposed in the ancient world. And like many ideas of the ancient world, it was given new life during the Renaissance. As it turns out, this problem is impossible to solve because of the nat...
==========
This image of the Vitruvian Man, taken from Leonardo's sketches, has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the Renaissance. But why? It's a simple pen and ink drawing, right? Wrong! Let's start to answer this question with a math problem. I know how to calculate the area of a circle. I take the value for pi and multiply it by the radius squared. I also know how to take the area of a square. I multiply the base by itself. But how can I take the area of a circle and create a square with an equal area? This is a problem often called "squaring a circle" that was first proposed in the ancient world. And like many ideas of the ancient world, it was given new life during the Renaissance. As it turns out, this problem is impossible to solve because of the nat...
