Archimedes
New Horizon Book 3 (S46) pg. 57-60
| Archimedes | |
|---|---|
| アルキメデス | |
| Details | |
| Word count | 365 |
| Book | New Horizon |
| Grade | 3 |
| Year | 1971 |
Archimedes was born in Sicily in 287 B.C.
He was a good friend of the king of Sicily. He said to the king, "If I use my machine, I can move anything." All the people laughed when they heard him say this. "You can't move that ship over there, can you?" said one of them. So he built a machine which could move the large ship. They were surprised to see him move it with one hand. The king said, "From now on, believe everything that Archimedes says!" When he was in trouble, he always asked Archimedes what to do.
Archimedes invented a machine which showed the movement of the sun, the moon, and the stars. He invented many war machines, too. But he did not think his inventions were important. He wrote very little about them. When he wrote, he wrote only about mathematics.
He was so interested in mathematics that he often forgot to eat. His friends had to tell him when to eat. They often found him drawing mathematical problems on the ground.
One day the king was worried. "I'm afraid that there's silver in my gold crown," he said. So he asked Archimedes to test the crown. Archimedes thought and thought about the problem. And one day, when he was taking a bath, he suddenly discovered the answer. The discovery made him very excited. He ran out without putting on his clothes. He ran home shouting, "I've found it!" Probably you have heard this story in your science class.
Archimedes was so interested in mathematics that it killed him. His city was taken by another king. The new king wanted to see Archimedes and sent for him. A soldier came to him, and saw him drawing some lines on the ground. The soldier told him to come and see the new king.
"I'm too busy to go," said Archimedes. "I have enough to do here. I can't do anything else." This made the soldier so angry that he killed Archimedes.
On the stone over Archimedes' grave was written his favourite mathematical problem. Though the world soon forgot about his grave, it will never forget about his work in mathematics.
