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Pythagorean Theorem: $c^2 = a^2 + b^2$. |
This theorem has so many proofs. One of the proofs is rather interesting because it was due to James Abram Garfield - the 20th President of the United States.
President Garfield's proof is very simple. It relies on finding the area of the following trapezoid in two different ways.
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This trapezoid has two bases of length $a$ and $b$. The height of the trapezoid is $a + b$. So the area of the trapezoid is $$\frac{1}{2}(a+b)(a+b) = \frac{1}{2}(a^2 + b^2 + 2ab).$$
The other way to calculate the area of the trapezoid is to sum up the three areas of the triangles, which is $$\frac{1}{2}ab + \frac{1}{2} c^2 + \frac{1}{2}ab = \frac{1}{2}(c^2 + 2ab).$$
Comparing the two results we obtain the Pythagorean Theorem! $$c^2 = a^2 + b^2.$$
Integer numbers $a$, $b$, $c$ that satisfy the equation $$c^2 = a^2 + b^2$$ are called the Pythagorean triples. You can read more about Pythagorean triples in this post.