Works of Theon of Smyrna were strongly influenced by Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician known for what?
Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( ; ; Greek: Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος  "Pythagóras ho Sámios"  "Pythagoras the Samian" , or simply Πυθαγόρας ; Πυθαγόρης in Ionian Greek; 495 BC ) was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and putative founder of the Pythagoreanism movement. He is often revered as a great mathematician and scientist and is best known for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name.
Hippasus Hippasus of Metapontum ( ; Greek: Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος , "Híppasos"; fl. 5th century BC), was a Pythagorean philosopher. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the gods for divulging this. However, the few ancient sources which describe this story either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g. Pappus) or alternatively tell that Hippasus drowned because he revealed how to construct a dodecahedron inside a sphere. The discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer. Some modern scholars though have suggested that he discovered the irrationality of √2, which is believed to have been discovered around the time that he lived.