Pythagorean theorem Pythagoras personally, [...] one can safely assume that it belongs to the very oldest period of Pythagorean mathematics." Around 400 BC, according to Proclus, Plato gave a method for finding Pythagorean triples that combined algebra and geometry. Around 300 BC, in Euclid's "Elements", the oldest extant axiomatic proof of the theorem is presented. Pythagorean theorem In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem, also known as Pythagoras' theorem, is a fundamental 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
Square root of 2 as shown in Figure 1. The square overlap region in the middle () must equal the sum of the two uncovered squares (). But these squares on the diagonal have positive integer sides that are smaller than the original squares. Repeating this process we can find arbitrarily small squares one twice the area of the other, yet both having positive integer sides, which is impossible since positive integers cannot be less than 1. Another geometric reductio ad absurdum argument showing that is irrational appeared in 2000 in the American Mathematical Monthly. It is also an example of proof by infinite