SOLUTION: What is the Pythagorean theorem? How is it used?

Question 168160: What is the Pythagorean theorem? How is it used?
Found 2 solutions by Mathtut, gonzo:
Answer by Mathtut(3670) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
anything and everything you always wanted to know about the pythagorean theorem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem
Answer by gonzo(654) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
you take a right triangle.
that's a triangle with one angle = 90 degrees
call that triangle ABC where the right angle = angle C.
the other 2 angles of the triangle are angle A and angle B.
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side a is opposite angle A.
side b is opposite angle B.
side c is opposite angle C.
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angle C is a right angle.
side c which is opposite angle C is called the hypotenuse of the right triangle.
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side a and side b are called legs of the right triangle.
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the pythagorean theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of each of the legs.
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this means that c^2 = a^2 + b^2
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given two of the dimensions of any right triangle, this theorem is used to find the third side.
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the theorem is also fundamental to proving the basic identities in trigonometry.
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there's tons of stuff on the web regarding pythagorean theorem.
just do a search on "pythagorean theorem" and see what comes up.
i couldn't find any one simple explanation.
what i just gave you is as simple as it gets.

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