Pythagorean theorem straightedge and compass. Pythagoras's theorem enables construction of incommensurable lengths because the hypotenuse of a triangle is related to the sides by the square root operation. The figure on the right shows how to construct line segments whose lengths are in the ratio of the square root of any positive integer. Each triangle has a side (labeled "1") that is the chosen unit for measurement. In each right triangle, Pythagoras's theorem establishes the length of the hypotenuse in terms of this unit. If a hypotenuse is related to the unit by the square root of a positive integer that is
Proofs of Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares has two involutions: an obvious one formula_213 whose fixed points formula_214 correspond to representations of formula_82 as a sum of two squares, and a more complicated one, which has exactly one fixed point formula_217. Two involutions over the same finite set must have sets of fixed points with the same parity, and since the second involution has an odd number of fixed points, so does the first. Zero is even, so the first involution has a nonzero number of fixed points, any one of which gives a representation of formula_82 as a sum of two squares. This proof, due to