A proof for Theodorus' theorem by drawing diagrams

Summary In Plato's dialogue Theaetetus, the mathematician Theodorus (ca. 470-400 BC) is said to have proved the irrationality of 3, 5, ..., 17 by drawing diagrams. In this paper such a proof is presented and compared with another, more arithmetical, reconstructed proof by W. Knorr. Moreover a hypothetical early theory of similar rectangles is extracted from Euclid's Elements, which could have served as a basis for the geometrical proof of Theodorus' theorem.Herrn N. Stephanidis in Freundschaft gewidmet