Kamis, 04 Juli 2013

The power of Pythagoras


Pythagoras

Pythagoras' Theorem

Years ago, a man named Pythagoras found an amazing fact about triangles:
If the triangle had a right angle (90°) ...
... and you made a square on each of the three sides, then ...
... the biggest square had the exact same area as the other two squares put together!
Example: A "3,4,5" triangle has a right angle in it.
pythagoras theorem

Let's check if the areas are the same:
32 + 42 = 52
Calculating this becomes:
9 + 16 = 25
It works ... like Magic!

How Do I Use it?

Write it down as an equation:
abc triangle a2 + b2 = c2

Example: Solve this triangle.

right angled triangle

a2 + b2 = c2
52 + 122 = c2
25 + 144 = c2
169 = c2
c2 = 169
c = √169
c = 13