Pythagorean Theory

Finding the sides of a Right Triangle.


Pythagorean theorem lets you find the third side of a right triangle if
you already know the two sides.
(side 1) x (side 1) + (side 2) x (side 2) = (longest side) x (longest side)

We call the longest side the Hypotenuse. It is the side that is directly
across from the 90 degree (right angle).
You will sometimes see this written as:

a2 + b2 = c2

[Image:121212_32851_2.png]
So if we know the length of two of the sides, we can figure out the length
of the third side.
e.g. Using the triangle below we will find the length of the unknown side.
[Image:121212_33200_3.png]
The side opposite the right angle is 25, so we will write the equation as
a a2 + b2 = c2 . 7 squared + x squared = 25 squared
49 + x 2 = 625
x 2 = 625-49
x 2 = 576
x = 24 (square root of 576 )

Use this method to solve the questions on the sheet attached.