Equations · equation
Pythagorean Theorem
Mathematics · c. 530 BCE
- Equation
- a² + b² = c²
- Field
- Mathematics
- Named After
- Pythagoras
- Symbols
- a, b the two legs of a right triangle · c the hypotenuse
- Year
- -530
Significance
The square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides — how distance itself is measured, from surveying to GPS to the metric of spacetime. Babylonian tablets list its triples a thousand years before Pythagoras; the Greek contribution was proving it must always hold.
Referenced by
equation
skill
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