Why was Pythagoras misunderstood?

Answer 1

I thought this would be an interesting question to research, and so it has proven to be. It has gone in an entirely different direction than I thought.

Misunderstanding of Pythagoras appears to stem from the interpretation of his philosophies.

The tough part is that Pythagoras did not write anything, no book or notes, that anyone can refer to. He was well read on his part as references note about his reading of others' works. People who noted philosophical arguments and stated proofs wrote down what he said, but nothing is known from the man himself.

In our age, the Pythagorean theorem is used daily in construction of even the simplest buildings - up to the largest constructions found. It is simple, elegant, and helps anyone with just a tape measure to determine if a base of a construction is square, thus keeping the building solid and square throughout construction.

Pythagoras was a Greek Philosopher who also worked on proving his philosophies mathematically. Aristotle and Plato who referred to him in their writings, even though he predated them by many years.