igorated by
the solution of two parts of the puzzle with one thought.
It was truly wonderful to see such simple effectiveness.
Are all great thoughts as simple as these, once you see them clearly?

Socrates: What do you say, Meno? Do thoughts get simpler as
they get greater?

Meno: Well, it would appear that they do, for as the master
of a great house, I can just order something be done, and it is;
but if I were a master in a lesser house, I would have to watch
over it much more closely to insure it got done. The bigger the
decisions I have to make, the more help and advice I get in the
making of them, so I would have to agree.

Socrates: Glad to see that you are still agreeable, Meno,
though I think there are some slight differences in the way each
of us view the simplicity of great thought. Shall we go on?

Meno: Yes, quite.

Boy: Yes, Socrates. I am ready for the last group, the
ratios of even numbers divided by the odd, though, I cannot yet
see how we will figure these out, yet, somehow I have confidence
that the walls of these numbers shall tumble before us, as did
the three groups before them.

Socrates: Let us review the three earlier groups, to prepare
us for the fourth, and to make sure that we have not already
broken the rules and therefore forfeited our wager. The four
groups were even over even ratios, which we decided could be
reduced in various manners to the other groups by dividing until
one number of the ratio was no longer even; then we eliminated
the two other groups which had odd numbers divided by either odd
or even numbers, because the first or top number had to be twice
the second or bottom number, and therefore could not be odd;
this left the last group we are now to greet, even divided by odd.

Boy: Wonderfully put, Socrates. It is amazing how neatly
you put an hour of thinking into a minute. Perhaps we can,
indeed, put ten years of thinking into this one day. Please
continue in this manner, if you know how it can be done.

Socrates: Would you have me continue, Meno? You know what
shall have to happen if we solve this next group and do not
find the square root of two in it.

Meno: Socrates, you are my friend, and my teacher, and a
good companion. I will not shirk my duty to you or to this fine
boy, who appears to be growing beyond my head, even as we speak.
However, I still do not see that his head has reached the clouds
wherein lie the minds of the Pythagoreans.