Building a House Using Pythagorean

theorem
Every house built utilizes trigonometry and Pythagorean theorem. Carpenters
have to use Pythagorean theorem to build walls, roofs, and stairs among many
other parts of a house.

Goal:
The goal of this project is to successfully build a cardstock house by applying
Pythagorean theorem. You will work in pairs where you will design and build
your house.

You will need:

- Cardstock paper (The cardstock paper is 30.4cm by 30.4 cm)
- Ruler
- Piece of paper to draft your design
- Calculator
- Pencil
There are two main steps to building this house:
1. Design
2. Build & Prove

Design:
Like carpenters, before you can build your house you need to blueprint it. During
this step you will decide the dimensions of your house. You will only be given
one piece of cardstock so choose appropriate dimensions! (You should have 9
pieces)

1. Choose the dimensions of your floor, your floor must be a rectangle

2. Choose the height and width of your walls
3. Choose the height of your roof and use the following steps to solve for the
slope of your roof:
a. The base of your roof is the same as the width of your walls
b. Draw a line half way through your width at the roof
c. Connect your two right triangles
d. Use Pythagorean theorem to solve for the length of your roof
pieces
1. 2. (Extension)
Build & Prove:

Before a carpenter can

build their house
after designing it they need to prove that their design ensures the building will be
level and square. They do this by using Pythagorean theorem.
1. Put your four walls together
a. For each of your four walls you need to prove that they are square.
This means that the walls will meet at 90. To do this you need to
draw a diagonal line through your wall (corner to corner). Then you
will have two right triangles. Using your chosen dimensions you can
them solve for the diagonal (hypotenuse) for both right triangles.
Once you have solved measure your diagonal on your walls to see
if it matches your calculation.

1. 2.

2. Once your walls and floor are put together you need to again check that
your walls are perpendicular to the floor. To do this you will again make a
right angle triangle with each wall and the floor creating a 90 angle.
a. Use the height of each wall as one leg
b. Your other leg will be your floor (you can pick how far across the
floor you measure)
c. Draw this right triangle on a piece of paper solving for your
hypotenuse
d. Use a ruler to measure the hypotenuse of your four walls. If your
hypotenuse matching your calculation on each of the four walls
then your walls are 90 to your floor
3. Put your roof together

When you are finished you should have a floor, four walls, and four
roof pieces (9 pieces)