Pythagorean Theorem

Pythagorean Theory

We use this theory to determine the side of any right triangle. The Pythagorean Theory states that the square of the short leg A added to the square of the next leg B will equal the square of the long side or hypotenuse C. The most common example of this is the 3, 4 and 5 right triangle where 3 squared is 9 and 4 squared is 16. Add those two numbers together, 9 and 16 to obtain 25, which is 5 squared.

When solving for a single side, we can follow any of the following formulas where we take the square root after we subtract or add a squared number. To find side A for a right triangle with a hypotenuse of 7 and side B of 5, we square 7 to get 49 and we subtract the square of 5 or 25. The answer is 24. Side A equals the square root of 24 or 4.90.

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