Nowadays, Plato is usually known as a philosopher. On the other hand, if we deeply study history, we can get an idea that Plato had provided an essential patron of Mathematics. He provided this patron of mathematics by getting inspiration from the great mathematician of the history Pythagoras. He gave his philosophy that mathematics is an essential subject to understand the reality of the world. For this reason, he explained how geometry is helpful to us to explore and unlock various secrets of the universe. The Academy was known as his famous institution to provide higher education to the students.
The main requirement to get admission in this institution was that the student should have enough knowledge about the geometry. If a student was ignorant about the geometry, he was not allowed to enter into Academy. After getting inspiration from Plato, the Greek philosophers studied and explored various concepts of mathematics and philosophy. In the Academy, he had designed 15 years course for his students. In the first 10 years, he provided the knowledge of science and mathematics to the students. After getting an education from the Academy, his students became the famous mathematicians in the world.
Another essential work of Plato is that he provided accurate definitions and proofs of some mathematical problems and assumptions. For example, during his time, most of the mathematicians were not able to understand the concept of a circle, cube and angle. These are also called the classical problems of Mathematics. Plato solved these classical problems of mathematics with the help of a straight edge and a compass. Before Plato, there was no concept of three-dimensional shapes. Plato had also provided a clear concept of three-dimensional shapes. These regular and three-dimensional shapes are considered as the basis for the whole universe.
These three-dimensional shapes were tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedrons, cube and dodecahedron. Nowadays, these three-dimensional shapes are known as Platonic Solids. Plato had also provided a clear explanation about these three-dimensional shapes. First, he had explained that there are four triangles in a tetrahedron. Secondly, he had explained that there are eight triangles in an octahedron. Thirdly, he had explained an interesting structure of icosahedrons and according to Plato, there are twenty triangles in an icosahedron. He had also given the structure of a cube. According to him, in a cube, there are six squares. Later on, his students had also done a lot of work in mathematics in order to explore various concepts of mathematics.
