James A. Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem.

About James A. Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem

Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem is an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem discovered by James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States. The proof appeared in print in the New-England Journal of Education. At the time of the publication of the proof, Garfield was a congressman from Ohio. He assumed the office of President in 1881, and served in that position until his death later that year after being shot in an assassination. Garfield is thus far the only President of the United States to have contributed anything original to mathematics. The proof is nontrivial and, according to the historian of mathematics William Dunham, "Garfield's is really a very clever proof." The proof appears as the 231st proof in The Pythagorean Proposition, a compendium of 370 different proofs of the Pythagorean theorem.