Pythagorean Theorem Definition And Examples. In a right angled triangle the square of the long side is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. They learn about this theorem in algebra for the first time.
Consider four right triangles \( \delta abc\) where b is the base, a is the height and c is the hypotenuse. The pythagorean theorem states that if a triangle has one right angle, then the square of the longest side, called the hypotenuse, is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two shorter sides, called the legs. The smallest pythagorean triple is 3, 4, 5 (a right triangle with legs of 3 and 4 units, and a hypotenuse of 5 units).
The formula and proof of this theorem are explained here with examples.
Look at the following examples to see pictures of the formula. An application of the pythagorean theorem allows you to calculate the length of a diagonal of a rectangle, the distance between two points on the coordinate plane and the height that a ladder can reach as it leans against a wall. Let us learn the concept! In the pythagorean theorem's formula, a and b are legs of a right triangle, and c is the hypotenuse.