Archimedes Dbq

"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world," Archimedes once said. Archimedes lived in ancient Greece, from 287-212 BC. He was born in Syracuse, Italy, to a small family. Cousin of King Hieron III, and son of Phidias, Archimedes was very popular. He was skilled in many fields, including mathematics, physics, inventing, and astronomy. Archimedes devised various devices that were versatile in their use, persisted to improve upon their crude style of mathematics, and made an impact on society by using his countless inventions to shield Sicily from a Roman onslaught. Archimedes devised various devices for different purposes. He made the first practical water screw, used to carry water to plants(Source A). He used a series of compound

He found the first “reliable figure” for π(pi) (Source A). In ancient Greece, the crude number system was very inefficient, and Archimedes made it easier to understand and count to higher numbers (Source B). Finally, he used the first known form of calculus while studying curved surfaces under Euclid, not to be later worked on for 2,000 years by Isaac Newton (Source A).

He made an impact on the Sicilian society by using his countless devices to shield from a Roman onslaught. Using the pair of lenses, he denied passage to most Roman ships by burning the sail, and eventually the entire ship, nearly killing everyone aboard (Source A). Using the crane, he was able to up-end any ships that were not already on fire or sunk (Source A). As an alternative, he used the improved catapult to sink enemy ships from far distances (Source A).

Archimedes influenced our lives today, some different than others. In the realm of mathematics, without Archimedes, we would not know the area of a circle (Source A). In science, we would not know nearly as much as we do about simple machines (Source A). Also, everything Archimedes did was divergent with the current styles; he persisted to make different ways of doing things(Source A). If there was a modern Archimedes, the possibilities of new technology and enhancements are only