I don't understand Pythagoras' theorem . What is it and how do you use it?

Ok, so the reason we need the Pythagoras theorem is to work out the length of missing side given we know the other 2 sides in a right-angled triangle. (Would go on to draw the triangle with the known sides and unknown side). The key rule to remember is that 'the hypotenuse squared( c) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides: a2 + b2 = c2. Any questions?Let's proceed to an example. (Would go on to draw an example with numeric values for the sides of the triangle). For instance if shorter sides we 8 and 9. 82+92= c2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 145=c2>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>1451/2>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>12.04159458>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>12.04 (3sf) I will now show an example where the hypotenuse/longest side is known and we want to work out one of the shorter sides.

SM

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = x√x at the point (4,6).


Joan cycles from her house to a shop 900 m away. She then cycles to her friends' house 700 m away. The average speed for the first part of her journey is 2 m/s. The second part takes her 16 mins. What is the average speed for her entire journey?


5(7x + 8) + 3(2x + b) ≡ ax + 13 Find the values of a and b


Work out the number of people in the office.