Right triangle Right triangle A right triangle (American English) or right-angled triangle (British English) is a triangle in which one angle is a right angle (that is, a 90-degree angle). The relation between the sides and angles of a right triangle is the basis for trigonometry. The side opposite the right angle is called the "hypotenuse" (side "c" in the figure). The sides adjacent to the right angle are called "legs" (or "catheti", singular: "cathetus"). Side "a" may be identified as the side "adjacent to angle B" and "opposed to" (or "opposite") "angle A", while side "b" is the side "adjacent to
Right angle expressed by adding a small right angle that forms a square with the angle in the diagram, as seen in the diagram of a right triangle (in British English, a right-angled triangle) to the right. The symbol for a measured angle, an arc, with a dot, is used in some European countries, including German-speaking countries and Poland, as an alternative symbol for a right angle. Right angles are fundamental in Euclid's Elements. They are defined in Book 1, definition 10, which also defines perpendicular lines. Definition 10 does not use numerical degree measurements but rather touches at the very heart