How can pythagorean theorem be used in life

You must have heard about the theorem in your Math class every now and then. But many fail to realize that this theorem finds application in various real life situations. According to Pythagoras Theorem the sum of squares of two sides of a right angled triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. Let one side of triangle be a, the other side be b and hypotenuse is given by c.

To make sure that the buildings are in square shape, Pythagorean Theorem is used. A set of Pythagorean triplets are used to construct square corners between two walls for example a 5 foot by 12 foot by 13 foot triangle will always be a right angled triangle. If you know the height of the roof and the length for it to cover, you can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the diagonal length of the roof's slope. You can use this information to cut properly sized beams to support the roof, or calculate the area of the roof that you would need to shingle.

The Pythagorean Theorem is also used in construction to make sure buildings are square. A triangle whose side lengths correspond with the Pythagorean Theorem — such as a 3 foot by 4 foot by 5 foot triangle — will always be a right triangle.

When laying out a foundation, or constructing a square corner between two walls, construction workers will set out a triangle from three strings that correspond with these lengths. If the string lengths were measured correctly, the corner opposite the triangle's hypotenuse will be a right angle, so the builders will know they are constructing their walls or foundations on the right lines.

The Pythagorean Theorem is useful for two-dimensional navigation. You can use it and two lengths to find the shortest distance. For instance, if you are at sea and navigating to a point that is miles north and miles west, you can use the theorem to find the distance from your ship to that point and calculate how many degrees to the west of north you would need to follow to reach that point.

Mary is already at the park but her friend Bob needs to get there taking the shortest path possible. Bob has two way he can go - he can follow the roads getting to the park - first heading south 3 miles, then heading west four miles. The total distance covered following the roads will be 7 miles. The other way he can get there is by cutting through some open fields and walk directly to the park. In this case the ladder itself will be the hypotenuse. With the energy used to accelerate one bullet to mph, we could accelerate two others to and mph.

You can use any set of numbers that make a right triangle. For example, enter a total amount 50 and one subportion 30 , and the remainder will appear below:.

Suppose you want to see if a large pizza 16 inches is bigger than two mediums 12 inches. Plug in 16 for C, and 12 for A. It looks like the large pizza can be split into a inch and Throughout our school life we think the Pythagorean Theorem is about triangles and geometry.

It's not. When you see a right triangle, realize the sides can represent the lengths of any portion of a shape, and the sides can represent variables in any equation that has a square. Maybe it's just me, but I find this pretty surprising. There's much, much more to this beautiful theorem, such as measuring any distance. Learn Right, Not Rote. Home Articles Popular Calculus. Feedback Contact About Newsletter.

Understanding How Area Works I love seeing old topics in a new light and discovering the depth there. This fact may surprise you: The area of any shape can be computed from any line segment squared. Can we pick any line segment?

Can we pick any shape? Change the shape of the triangle and the equation changes. I hope these high-level concepts make sense: Area can be be found from any line segment squared , not just the "side" or "radius" Each line segment has a different "area factor" The same area equation works for similar shapes Intuitive Look at The Pythagorean Theorem We can all agree the Pythagorean Theorem is true here's 75 proofs.

Now let's play with the equation: Divide by F on both sides and you get: Which is our famous theorem! You knew it was true, but now you know why : A triangle can be split into two smaller, similar ones Since the areas must add up, the squared hypotenuses which determine area must add up as well.

Take circles, for example: Now what happens when we add them together? In reality, the "length" of a side can be distance, energy, work, time, or even people in a social network: Social Networks. Computer Science Some programs with n inputs take n 2 time to run bubble sort, for example.