History of mathematical notation back to any school or period before that of the Ionian Greeks, but the subsequent history may be divided into periods, the distinctions between which are tolerably well marked. Greek mathematics, which originated with the study of geometry, tended from its commencement to be deductive and scientific. Since the fourth century AD, Pythagoras has commonly been given credit for discovering the Pythagorean theorem, a theorem in geometry that states that in a right-angled triangle the area of the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of
Right triangle then with equality only in the isosceles case. If segments of lengths "p" and "q" emanating from vertex "C" trisect the hypotenuse into segments of length "c"/3, then The right triangle is the only triangle having two, rather than one or three, distinct inscribed squares. Let "h" and "k" ("h" > "k") be the sides of the two inscribed squares in a right triangle with hypotenuse "c". Then These sides and the incircle radius "r" are related by a similar formula: The perimeter of a right triangle equals the sum of the radii of the incircle and the three excircles: