Works of Theon of Smyrna were strongly influenced by Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician known for what?
Theon of Smyrna Theon of Smyrna (Greek: Θέων ο Σμυρναίος "Theon o Smyrneos", "gen." Θέωνος "Theonos"; fl. 100 CE) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, whose works were strongly influenced by the Pythagorean school of thought. His surviving "On Mathematics Useful for the Understanding of Plato" is an introductory survey of Greek mathematics.
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.