Question

What is Pythagorean Therom and how is it used?

Answer 1

The Pythagorean Theorem in a^2 + b ^2 = c^2

It is used to solve for one side of a right triangle (any triangle where one angle is 90 degrees). Most of the times it is used to solve for the hypotenuse, which is represented by c. A and B represent the other sides of the triangle.

Answer 2

The Pythagorean Theorem also states that the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse.

In other words, for the triangle shown below, a² + b² = c².

In the image below, I have drawn a triangle on my whiteboard.

In the triangle that is shown below, the legs, a and b, are the perpendicular sides of the right triangle and the hypotenuse, c, is the side opposite the right angle.

This only applies to right triangles!

You can use this theorem to find out if a triangle is an acute triangle, a right triangle, or even an obtuse triangle.