View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/making-sense-of-irrational-numbers-ganesh-pai

Like many heroes of Greek myths, the philosopher Hippasus was rumored to have been mortally punished by the gods. But what was his crime? Did he murder guests or disrupt a sacred ritual? No, Hippasus's transgression was mathematically proving the hitherto unprovable. Ganesh Pai describes the history and math behind irrational numbers.

Lesson by Ganesh Pai, animation by Anton Trofimov.