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
Special right triangle : , which follows immediately from the Pythagorean theorem. Of all right triangles, the 45°–45°–90° degree triangle has the smallest ratio of the hypotenuse to the sum of the legs, namely . Of all right triangles, the 45°–45°–90° degree triangle has the greatest ratio of the altitude from the hypotenuse to the sum of the legs, namely . Triangles with these angles are the only possible right triangles that are also isosceles triangles in Euclidean geometry. However, in spherical geometry and hyperbolic geometry, there are infinitely many different shapes of right isosceles triangles. This is a triangle whose three angles