That's an interesting suggestion I've never heard before, but your link appears to be down. I'm getting a 404. Is it possible this passage is referring to the reciprocal Pythagorean theorem? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#Reciprocal...
My apologies, here is the article and citation. And no, not the reciprocal Pythagorean theorem -- learning about Pythagoreanism is a real rabbit hole, highly recommended :)
McGuire, J. E., & Rattansi, P. M. (1966). Newton and the ‘Pipes of Pan’. Notes and records of the Royal Society of London, 21(2), 108-143.
