Expert: Richard J. Raridon - 12/7/2006

Question
Hi, I am an 8th grade student and I'm having trouble with the Pythagorean Therom. I want to know what is the Pythagorean Thearom and Why we need it(by we i mean people).

Answer
The Pythagorean Theorem applies to right triangles, ones that have a 90 degree angle and two smaller angles.  If the two smaller sides are a and b, the largest side is c and the relationship among sides is a^2 + b^2 = c^2 so if you know two sides you can find the third one.