Introduction to Pythagorean Theorem

Example

A triangle with one interior right angle. A right angle is exactly 90 degrees.

Definition

Example

This formula can only be used on right triangles. All of the letters represent one of the sides of the triangle. a and b are the shorter sides, while c is the longest side.

​  c is ALWAYS the side that does not touch the right angle
 

How we use Pythagorean Theorem

If we know length of the two legs, we can solve for the length of the hypotenuse!

How we use Pythagorean Theorem

Okay.... but wait. We don't know what a leg or hypotenuse is...

​Oh yeah! My bad.... The legs are the two shorter sides (a and b) and the hypotenuse is the longest side (c).

If we know the length of leg a is 3 and the length of leg b is 4, what is the length of the hypotenuse?

How we use Pythagorean Theorem

So... back to solving for the hypotenuse...

Now you try...
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We know the length of the legs are 6 and 8. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

Now you try another one...
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We know the length of the legs are 9 and 12. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

Now you try another one...
Enter your answer on next slide

We know the length of the legs are 12 and 16. What is the length of the hypotenuse?