Question

Millennium Park has an outdoor concert theater. Before a concert, the area reserved for special seating is roped off in the shape of a triangle as shown below. How can the converse of the Pythagorean theorem help you determine whether the roped off area is in the shape of a right triangle? (2 points)

Answer 1

The converse of Pythagorean Theorem states:

If the square length of the longes side of a triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, then it's a right triangle.

We use the converse of Pythagorean Theorem to prove that a triangle is a right triangle. It's like the inverse use of the theorem. Often, this theorem is used to find the length of a side of a triangle when we already know it's a right triangle. However, when we don't know that is a right triangle, we use the converse to prove it.