Puzzlebrains

These will probably become general ledge (defined elsewhere as "the stuff that is hidden in your brain that you have forgotton the meaning of").

Archimedes (Syracuse, 287-212 B.C.). Greek mathematician and engineer which is included among the top ranking mathematicians in history. Also a natural philosopher. He demonstrated that all numbers can be written down, by writing down the number of grains of sand needed to fill the entire universe. He expertly used the method of exhaustion developed by Eudoxus. He found ratios of the volumes of various figures, such as that of a sphere and a cylinder with a height equal to the diameter of the sphere which is equal to two thirds. He was the first to apply mathematical laws to levers. He is also known for his discovery that a body immersed in fluid displaces an amount of fluid equal to its own mass. Legend has it that he discovered this while in the bath and later ran naked around the streets of Syracuse shouting Eureka (I have found it). He used levers to pull a fully loaded ship on shore, thus supporting his statement: "give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can move the Earth". According to legend he was killed by a soldier while contemplating geometric figures drawn in the sand, even though the soldier's commander had ordered Archimedes' life spared.

I also found a bit about a Greek who though the Earth was a cylinder! He must already have been confined to General Ledge as I can't remember his name.

Archytas of Tarentum (420-350 B.C.). Greek mathematician. Built a series of toys, among them a mechanical pigeon

Poseidonius (Apamea, 140-50 B.C.). Incorrectly calculated the Earth's circumference, which 1500 year later, led Columbus to believe that Asia was only about 3000 miles west of Europe. (Just shows you shouldn't rely on someone else's workings!)

giraffe wrote:Archimedes [...] is also known for his discovery that a body immersed in fluid displaces an amount of fluid equal to its own mass. Legend has it that he discovered this while in the bath and later ran naked around the streets of Syracuse shouting Eureka (I have found it).

It seems a bit rough not to explain why he shouted "Eureka" though! Otherwise he sounds a bit strange...
The King had been given a fancy new crown that was supposed to be made from pure gold. The King wanted to know if it was, without melting it down to find out. It was the bath incident that made Archimedes realise that if the crown was "impure" then it would displace less water than a pure gold crown would. Problem solved. (Of course, the problem here is that to measure the difference would require tools of an accuracy that they probably didn't have. But it's a good story, nevertheless.)

Im a total geek. I have a book about all that stuff - its called the history of Mathematics.

Giraffe also found some person with the same name as one of my friends except his middle name was 'little' which we thought was a bit unusual.

While I think about it - I wouldn't say that any of this is "irrelevant" exactly. After all, how do you suppose I (or anyone else!) finds out the stuff that gets put into puzzles in the first place

Scurra wrote: (Of course, the problem here is that to measure the difference would require tools of an accuracy that they probably didn't have. But it's a good story, nevertheless.)

now scurra its pretty simple really
take a barrel/bath of water filled to the brim....any more will over flow put the right weight of gold forged into bars into a net slowly submerg
let the excess water leave remove place the crown in the net and lower in the now non full barrel if the crown has excess volume it will cause the barrel to overflow

redo the test but starting with the crown will show if the bar has excess volume to the crown

now the deal with the plain gold crown means you only have to know if its not the same as the metal provided which doing both tests show...you dont need accurate measurement

I must admit I was finding it fascinating, but got seriously sidetracked and never did confirm the ledge that sent me there.

well i know which ledge sent me down there
dewsbury college i did a oral project on him

yes i did get up and talk at the front of class.....

Built a series of toys, among them a mechanical pigeon

My mad Brother in Law fitted wheels to a pigeon which had broken its pelvis!

Sorry, irrelevant is my middle name. (Bunny Irrelevant Lump, but that just sounds silly, so I just use the outside two, which are sensible).