Question 1

What is Pythagoras' Theorem?

Accepted Answer

Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician who lived around 2500 years ago. He’s best remembered for the theorem that was named after him - Pythagoras' Theorem! We’ll look at why it’s named after him later, but first, how do we use it? Pythagoras’ theorem is used to find missing sides in right-angled triangles. We assign the value c to the longest side, or hypotenuse, of a right-angled triangle. We assign the values a and b to the remaining sides.

Question 2

Isosceles Triangles

Accepted Answer

The height of an isosceles triangle can also be found using Pythagoras’ theorem. Consider a triangle with base x and two equal sides measuring y: We can bisect the triangle, or split it into two equal parts. This is shown by the dotted line which will meet the base at a right angle. By doing this, we create two right-angled triangles! The base of one will be (x ÷ 2) and the hypotenuse will be y. We can use these to find the height of the isosceles triangle.

Question 3

Where Did Pythagoras' Theorem Come From?

Accepted Answer

Pythagorean triples have been known about since ancient times. Plimpton 322 is a boring name for a very exciting object, and a relatively famous mathematical artefact. It dates from around 1800BC and has a table of Pythagorean triples on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise the numbers; they’re written in cuneiform. Plimpton 322 was written by the Babylonians – a group of people who lived close to what is now Iraq. To put it simply, Pythagoras didn’t discover the relationship between the sides of a right-angled triangle. He just wrote it down, proved it and named it after himself.

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Pythagoras’ Theorem