Special right triangle is 90°, leaving the remaining angle to be 30°. Right triangles whose sides are of integer lengths, with the sides collectively known as Pythagorean triples, possess angles that cannot all be rational numbers of degrees. (This follows from Niven's theorem.) They are most useful in that they may be easily remembered and any multiple of the sides produces the same relationship. Using Euclid's formula for generating Pythagorean triples, the sides must be in the ratio where "m" and "n" are any positive integers such that . There are several Pythagorean triples which are well-known, including those with sides in the
Triangle inequality angles satisfy: Therefore, and so, in particular, That means side opposite angle is shorter than side opposite the larger angle . But . Hence: A similar construction shows , establishing the theorem. An alternative proof (also based upon the triangle postulate) proceeds by considering three positions for point : (i) as depicted (which is to be proven), or (ii) coincident with (which would mean the isosceles triangle had two right angles as base angles plus the vertex angle , which would violate the triangle postulate), or lastly, (iii) interior to the right triangle between points and (in which case angle