explain this how a 7 year old would.
im going to use the Pythagorean theorem to determine if this is a right triangle. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
If we let the side lengths be a=4 in., b=6 in., and c=9 in., then we can apply the theorem as follows:
a^2 + b^2 = 4^2 + 6^2 = 16 + 36 = 52
c^2 = 9^2 = 81
a^2 + b^2 does not equal c^2 (52 does not equal 81), this triangle is not a right triangle.
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So basically, I have to check if the sides of the triangle fit into a rule. The rule is if I add up the squares of the two shorter sides, it should equal the square of the longest side. In this case, when I do the math, 52 is not the same as 81, so this is not a right triangle.
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