The Pythagorean theorem

| Classé dans Mathematics

Here is a character who gives a lot of trouble every year to a good number of middle school students, but also to teachers.

Indeed, this man, a long time ago, left us a theorem and each year many students try to understand and remember his equation.

From year to year, your teachers must help you discover, understand and learn this theorem.

I want to talk here about Pythagoras.

Pythagoras

THE Pythagore’s theorem can be stated as follows: “ In a right triangle, the square of the Hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.”

L’ Hypotenuse represents in the rectangle triangle, THE opposite side at theright angle.

Hypotenuse

The Pythagorean theorem

You can notice that no matter the direction of our triangle, the equation does not change, but on the other hand it can be written in different ways.

It remains to determine how to find the number which, multiplied by itself, gives the result found in the equation. (The square root)

a x a = a²

b x b = b²

c x c = c²

If you haven’t yet covered how to calculate a square root, take your calculator and press the key square root represented by this sign √

An example to understand this theorem.

a = 3

b = 4

c = ?

We therefore know that: a² + b² = c²

a² = 3² = 3 x 3 = 9

b² = 4² = 4 x 4 = 16

a² + b² = c²
9 + 16 = 25

c² = 25

c x c = 25

c = 5


Articles de la même catégorie