Could Thales calculate the volume of the Cheops pyramid? Did he know how to derive the appropriate formula?
October 31, 2020 | Education
| Thales undoubtedly learned from the Egyptians the formula for the volume of the pyramid. But he hardly knew any justification for why this formula contains a factor of 1/3 (instead of a factor of 1/2, as in a similar formula for the area of a triangle).
