Thread:ShodaiGoro/@comment-25584998-20140826014411

Titan told me to explain this to you, so: In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem—or Pythagoras's theorem—is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. The theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of the sides a, b and c, often called the Pythagorean equation:a^2 + b^2 = c^2\!\, where c represents the length of the hypotenuse, and a and b represent the lengths of the other two sides.

The Pythagorean theorem is named after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras (ca. 570 BC—ca. 495 BC), who by tradition is credited with its proof,[2][3] although it is often argued that knowledge of the theorem predates him. There is evidence that Babylonian mathematicians understood the formula, although there is little surviving evidence that they used it in a mathematical framework.[4][5] Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese mathematicians have all been known for independently discovering the result, some even providing proofs of special cases.

The theorem has numerous proofs, possibly the most of any mathematical theorem. These are very diverse, including both geometric proofs and algebraic proofs, with some dating back thousands of years. The theorem can be generalized in various ways, including higher-dimensional spaces, to spaces that are not Euclidean, to objects that are not right triangles, and indeed, to objects that are not triangles at all, but n-dimensional solids. The Pythagorean theorem has attracted interest outside mathematics as a symbol of mathematical abstruseness, mystique, or intellectual power; popular references in literature, plays, musicals, songs, stamps and cartoons abound. 