While it may be nearly impossible to experience (rather than read) the process of scientific discovery in most cases, there are a few possibilities. The Pythagorean Theorem, for example, was probably the result of thousands of years of trying to find a general relationship between the diagonal and sides of rectangles. It is only now that we view it as the equivalent relationship between the legs and hypotenuses of right triangles. However, the people of ancient Iraq were most likely solving puzzles to determine the side of a square from its area by building the square on its diagonal and dissecting it in various ways. Eventually, this led to the triples they... (read more)
While it may be nearly impossible to experience (rather than read) the process of scientific discovery in most cases, there are a few possibilities. The Pythagorean Theorem, for example, was probably the result of thousands of years of trying to find a general relationship between the diagonal and sides of rectangles. It is only now that we view it as the equivalent relationship between the legs and hypotenuses of right triangles. However, the people of ancient Iraq were most likely solving puzzles to determine the side of a square from its area by building the square on its diagonal and dissecting it in various ways. Eventually, this led to the triples they... (read more)