Hippasus

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This article is about the Greek philosopher. For any of the mythological characters called Hippasus see Hippasus.

Hippasus of Metapontum, born circa 500 B.C. in Magna Graecia, was a Greek philosopher. He was a disciple of Pythagoras. Hippasus (or Hippasos) is attributed with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. More specifically, he is credited with the discovery that the square root of 2 is irrational.

Up until Hippasus' discovery, the Pythagoreans preached that all numbers could be expressed as the ratio of integers. Despite the logical basis for his discovery, the Pythagoreans initially treated it as a kind of religious heresy and they either exiled or murdered Hippasus. Legend has it that the discovery was made at sea and that Hippasus' fellow Pythagoreans threw him overboard.

He was also noted as an early experimenter in acoustics and resonance. Few of his original works now survive.