President Garfield Proves Pythagorean Theorem

In 1876, James A. Garfield, who later became president of the United States, published a new proof of the Pythagorean theorem in the New England Journal of Education. His argument used a geometric construction involving right triangles to show that a² + b² = c². Historians credit this work as an original contribution to mathematics. Garfield remains the only U.S. president known to have published an original mathematical proof.

Previous Fact Next Fact