This article is about classical geometry.

For the baseball term,

see pythagorean expectation.

Pythagorean theorem
The sum of the areas of the two squares on the legs (a and b) equals the
area of the square on the hypotenuse (c).

In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem, also known as Pythagoras's

theorem, is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry among the three
sides of a right triangle. It states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side
opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two
sides. The theorem can be written as an equationrelating the lengths of the
sides a, b and c, often called the "Pythagorean equation":[1]

where c represents the length of the hypotenuse and a and b the

lengths of the triangle's other two sides.
Although it is often argued that knowledge of the theorem predates
him,[2][3] the theorem is named after the ancient
Greek mathematician Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BC) as it is he who, by
tradition, is credited with its first recorded proof.[4][5][6] There is some
evidence that Babylonian mathematicians understood the formula,
although little of it indicates an application within a mathematical
framework.[7][8] Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese mathematicians all
discovered the theorem independently and, in some cases, provided
proofs for special cases.
The theorem has been given numerous proofs – possibly the most for any
mathematical theorem. They are very diverse, including both geometric
proofs and algebraic proofs, with some dating back thousands of years.
The theorem can be generalized in various ways, including higher-
dimensional spaces, to spaces that are not Euclidean, to objects that are
not right triangles, and indeed, to objects that are not triangles at all,
but n-dimensional solids. The Pythagorean theorem has attracted interest
outside mathematics as a symbol of mathematical abstruseness,
mystique, or intellectual power; popular references in literature, plays,
musicals, songs, stamps and cartoons abound.

Contents
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 1Pythagorean proof
 2Other forms of the theorem
 3Other proofs of the theorem
o 3.1Proof using similar triangles
o 3.2Euclid's proof
o 3.3Proofs by dissection and rearrangement
o 3.4Einstein's proof by dissection without rearrangement
o 3.5Algebraic proofs
o 3.6Proof using differentials
 4Converse
 5Consequences and uses of the theorem
o 5.1Pythagorean triples
o 5.2Incommensurable lengths
o 5.3Complex numbers
o 5.4Euclidean distance in various coordinate systems
o 5.5Pythagorean trigonometric identity
o 5.6Relation to the cross product
 6Generalizations
o 6.1Similar figures on the three sides
o 6.2Law of cosines
o 6.3Arbitrary triangle
o 6.4General triangles using parallelograms
o 6.5Solid geometry
o 6.6Inner product spaces
o 6.7Sets of m-dimensional objects in n-dimensional space
 6.7.1Applied to sets containing a single object
 6.7.2Applied to sets containing multiple objects
 6.7.3Applied in any number of dimensions
o 6.8Non-Euclidean geometry
 6.8.1Spherical geometry
 6.8.2Hyperbolic geometry
 6.8.3Very small triangles
o 6.9Differential geometry