Concerning the Gadget

[Zabagliona Profile]

...uh...actually, "Eureka" is from the Greek Greek heurēka, meaning "I have found it", and was supposedly exclaimed by the mathematician Archimedes...

The construction of the word is clearly NOT Latin in origin.

[FoolsGold Profile]

You're quite correct. I meant Greek, and I knew about the story of Archimedes and his trouble with irregular solids from my math studies. That and I took Ancient Greek in college. What a waste. Nothing hurts your brain more than reading about Dikaiopolis' issues with farming...

Anyway, some other mathematician was trying to calculate the volume of a gold crown, hence the term 'irregular solid'. Archimedes 'discovered' the solution one day or night when he noticed that the displacement of water in his bath equaled the volume of his body, and thus he could use this method to calculate the volume of the crown.

Of course, the volume of gold in a crown was an important concern for kings back then.

Supposedly, according to the story put down on paper centuries later after Archimedes' death, the mathematician ran naked through the streets yelling 'eureka'.

Well, it's an interesting story, but likely apocryphal.