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
Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares modulo 4, and none of them can be expressed as the sum of two squares. This is the easier part of the theorem, and follows immediately from the observation that all squares are congruent to 0 or 1 modulo 4. Albert Girard was the first to make the observation, describing all positive integral numbers (not necessarily primes) expressible as the sum of two squares of positive integers; this was published in 1625. The statement that every prime "p" of the form "4n+1" is the sum of two squares is sometimes called "Girard's theorem". For his part, Fermat wrote an elaborate