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In any right triangle, the sum
of the squares of the shorter sides is equal to the square of the longest
side, called the hypotenuse.
Pythagorus is officially attributed,
around 500 BC, although some historians think it likely that it was
first discovered by one of his followers instead.
The Pythagorean serves to
this day as one of the first theorems examined in plane geometry. Legend
has it that early builders used a close loop of rope that was 15 distance
units long, with marks at an initial point, then 3 units beyond, and
another 4 units beyond that. This loop would then be used to check whether
a given corner was square.
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