The Pythagorean Theorem
9th Grade · Math · 50 min
Lesson Preview
Learning Objective
I can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the missing side length of a right triangle.
- 1
The Pythagorean theorem, represented as a² + b² = c², is used to find the missing side length of a right triangle, where 'c' is the hypotenuse and 'a' and 'b' are the legs.
- 2
To find the length of a missing leg, you can plug in the known values into the Pythagorean theorem and isolate the variable representing the missing leg by using inverse operations such as subtraction and finding the square root.
- 3
When the result of the square root is not a perfect square, you can express the answer as a square root or approximate it as a decimal rounded to a certain place value, like the hundredths place.
