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Gallery: Pythagoras' theorem


Please enable Java and reload the page for an interactive construction (with Cinderella).

Pythagoras' Theorem tells us that the area of the square over the hypotenuse c of a right angled triangle is the same as the sum of the aread of the squares over a and b.

Here you can see why: Take four copies of the triangle and arrange them as shown in the middle square. The remaining area is a²+b². Rearrange them as shown in the right square: The remaining area is c². That's all!

You can pick the top point of the triangle and move it, or you can move points A and B to verify that the theorem is still true for different right angled triangles.

©1999 Jürgen Richter-Gebert & Ulrich Kortenkamp. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Cinderella is independent of Sun Microsystem, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.