The
Sectioning the Pythagorean Theorem
Problem
The
Sectioning the Pythagorean Theorem
Problem
Given: In the figure above the blue triangle is a right
triangle with legs a and b and hypotenuse c.
A line is drawn from the vertex of the right angle perpendicular to the hypotenuse
and on through the square on the hypotenuse forming two sections of this larger
square (one red and one yellow in the fig. above).
Show: algebraically that the area of the smaller yellow square on the one leg of the
right triangle is equal to the yellow section of the larger square on the hypotenuse.
If this is true, then the area of the red square on the one leg of the right triangle
must be equal to the red section of the larger square on the hypotenuse. Why?
