what type of triangle can the pythagorean theorem be used for
The Pythagorean Theorem describes the lengths of the sides of a right triangle in a way that is so elegant and practical that the theorem is still widely used today. The theorem states that for any right triangle, the sum of the squares of the non-hypotenuse sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.
The 3-4-5 Triangle. It is perhaps surprising that there are some right-angled triangles where all three sides are whole numbers called Pythagorean Triangles. The three whole number side-lengths are called a Pythagorean triple or triad. An example is a = 3, b = 4 and h = 5, called the 3-4-5 triangle. We can check it as follows: 3 2 +4 2 = 9 + 16 = 25 = 5 2 so a2 + b2 = h2. This triple was known to the Babylonians (who lived in the area of present-day Iraq and Iran) even as long as 5000 years ago! Perhaps they used it to make a right-angled triangle so they could make true right-angles when constructing buildings-we do not know for certain.