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Pythagoras (born c. 570 bce, Samos, Ionia [Greece]—died c. 500–490 bce, Metapontum, Lucanium [Italy]) was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Pythagorean brotherhood that, although religious in nature, formulated principles that influenced the thought of Plato and Aristotle and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy. (For a fuller treatment of Pythagoras and Pythagorean thought, see Pythagoreanism). Little of what is known about Pythagoras comes from contemporary accounts, and the...