Pythagorean theorem four elementary lemmata: Next, each top square is related to a triangle congruent with another triangle related in turn to one of two rectangles making up the lower square. The proof is as follows: This proof, which appears in Euclid's "Elements" as that of Proposition 47 in Book 1, demonstrates that the area of the square on the hypotenuse is the sum of the areas of the other two squares. This is quite distinct from the proof by similarity of triangles, which is conjectured to be the proof that Pythagoras used. We have already discussed the Pythagorean proof, which was
Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares he announced the following two results for odd primes formula_4: He also wrote: In other words, if "p, q" are of the form 20"k" + 3 or 20"k" + 7, then "pq" = "x" + 5"y". Euler later extended this to the conjecture that Both Fermat's assertion and Euler's conjecture were established by Lagrange. A generalization of Fermat's theorem, the sum of two squares theorem, characterizes the integers (not necessarily prime) that can be expressed as the sum of two squares. They are exactly the integers in which each prime that is congruent to 3 mod 4 appears with an