Topic of the week

Pythagorean Theorem

I wanted to write about this diagram. I actually learned this recently and really enjoyed it as my teacher showed it to me. It provides a great way to visually introduce the topic to students. The triangles has sides a,b,c. The square has 4 triangles that form two squares with areas b^2 and a^2. It can be a quick activity where the students can cut out the triangles and fit the pieces. When the triangles are rearranged to create another square, where all the c sides create a square, the student can see that the area of the square is c^2.

It's a visual proof to help students to see how the pythagorean theorem works. It helps students to reinforce that a^2+b^2=c^2.