CHAPTER 8:RIGHT TRIANGLES

8.2

THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM

PYTHAGORASPythagoras was an ancient

Greek mathematician and

philosopher.

He invented the Pythagorean

Theorem, one of the best

known theorems in all of math.

THEOREM 8-2THEOREM 8-2 The Pythagorean TheoremIn a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is

equal to the sum of the squares of the legs.

a² + b² = c²

a

b

ca

b

cc

PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM

When using the

Pythagorean Theorem,

be sure to let a and b

represent the lengths

of the legs of the right

triangle while c represents the length of the hypotenuse.

***Note: It does not matter which leg you identify as a or b, but c must be the hypotenuse.

a

b

c

EXAMPLEFind Y:

1.

2.

5y

10

y

y - 1 5

PRACTICEFind the value of each variable

1.

2.

3.

x2

3

4y

6

x4

x

CLASSWORK/HOMEWORK

8.2 Assignment

• Pg. 291, Classroom Exercises 2-18 even

• Pg. 292, Written Exercises 2-32 every other even.