Pythagorean theorem three sides in place of squares (squares are a special case, of course). The upper figure shows that for a scalene triangle, the area of the parallelogram on the longest side is the sum of the areas of the parallelograms on the other two sides, provided the parallelogram on the long side is constructed as indicated (the dimensions labeled with arrows are the same, and determine the sides of the bottom parallelogram). This replacement of squares with parallelograms bears a clear resemblance to the original Pythagoras's theorem, and was considered a generalization by Pappus of Alexandria in 4 AD The
Proofs of Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares formula_196. The area of the fundamental parallelogram (in this case a rectangle) of the lattice is formula_82. The area of the open disk, formula_198, of radius formula_199 centered around the origin is formula_200. Furthermore, formula_198 is convex and symmetrical about the origin. Therefore, by Minkowski's theorem there exists a nonzero vector formula_196 such that formula_203. Both formula_204 and formula_205 so formula_206. Hence formula_82 is the sum of the squares of the components of formula_208. Let formula_209 be prime, let formula_210 denote the natural numbers (with or without zero), and consider the finite set formula_211 of triples of numbers. Then formula_212