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.
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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:
| | a2 + b2 = c2 |
Example: Solve this triangle.
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a2 + b2 = c2
52 + 122 = c2
25 + 144 = c2
169 = c2
c2 = 169
c = √169
c = 13
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