The Pythagorean Theorem is a super helpful math rule that helps us figure out the length of a missing side of a right triangle. Let’s break it down with a cool picture!
So, imagine a square that’s split into four smaller right triangles. Each of these triangles has a right angle (that’s 90 degrees) and two shorter sides. One side goes across (horizontal) and the other one goes up (vertical).
If you look closely at the triangles, you can see that one of the shorter sides is actually part of the square’s side! And the longest side of the triangle? That’s the diagonal of the square.
Now, here’s the important part about the sides of the triangle. According to the Pythagorean Theorem, if you take the longest side (which is the hypotenuse) and square it, it will equal the sum of the squares of the other two sides (the legs).
For example, let’s say one leg is 3 units long and the other leg is 4 units long. We can use the theorem to find the hypotenuse. First, we square the lengths: 3² = 9 and 4² = 16. Then, we add them together: 9 + 16 = 25.
Now, to get the length of the hypotenuse, we need to find the square root of 25, which is 5.
So, we used the Pythagorean Theorem and figured out that the hypotenuse (the longest side) of this triangle is 5 units! It works for any right triangle every time!
Isn’t that cool? We can find any missing side of a right triangle by using the Pythagorean Theorem. Just remember the formula: a² + b² = c², where 'a' and 'b' are the two shorter sides, and 'c' is the hypotenuse.