I used to tell that to my junior high math students when we introduce
the Pythagorean Theorem.
BTW. The answer is James A Garfield. While a member of Congress and
about 3 years before becoming President, Mr. Garfield developed an
independent and quite clever proof of the Pythagorean theorem. You can
find an outline of his proof here.
http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt668/emt668.student.folders/headangela/essay1/pythagorean.html
(Scroll down for Garfield's Proof.)
Joel A. Brondos wrote:
<< What U.S. president published a unique proof of the Pythagorean
theorem while a member of Congress? >>
I think I used to know that.
While I'm waiting for the answer, I'll share a little story with you,
trying to be as politically correct as I can.
There was once a noble chief of a Midwestern Native American clan
whose wife bore him a healthy son. He was very proud of her and
decided to commemorate that event by single-handedly hunting down a
Grizzly bear and presenting her with its hide.
His second wife, soon afterward, bore him TWIN sons. In order to honor
her, the chief traveled many miles and bagged a crocodile and
presented her with the crocodile hide in a great ceremony before the
tribe.
Lo and behold, his third wife bore him TRIPLET sons. He knew that he
had to do something exceedingly and commensurately special. So, for
many moons he traveled, and finally bagged a hippopotamus, presenting
her with that very rare and special hide with a spectacular celebration.
And all of this just to show that "the squaw of the hippopotamus is
equal to the squaws of the other two hides."
It might not be possible to have a good weekend after that, but I hope
you do anyway.
Joel Brondos
Brookfield, IL
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