Unit
Introductory Geometry
MA, Stanford University
Teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area
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If a triangle is right, then one leg squared plus the other leg squared equals the hypotenuse squared. The converse tells us that if one leg squared plus the other leg squared equals the third side squared, then the triangle is a right triangle. We can use this converse to determine if three side lengths would determine a right triangle: the two legs would be the smaller two values. Find their squares and add them together. Find the square of the largest side length, and if it is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs, then yes, it would be a right triangle.
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