Pythagoras (569-475 BC) is recognized as the world's first mathematician. He was born on the island of Samos and was thought to study with Thales and Anaximander (recognized as the first western philosophers). Pythagoras believed that numbers were not only the way to truth, but truth itself. Through mathematics, one could attain harmony and live an easier life. He is said to have proposed a number of mathematical theorems to this end but, of all these, only the famous Pythagorean Theorem remains (Allen, 1966).
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/213/the-pythagorean-theorem-the-way-of-truth/.