Description
This activity is meant for students to discover the relationship described by the Pythagorean Theorem. There are three right triangles and one scalene triangle, each drawn with squares off of their sides. Once students find the area of each square, teachers can ask them to look for a relationship between the area of the squares. Students will be able to see that a^2+b^2 = c^2 in the right triangles but not in the scalene triangle. This is a great activity to introduce the Pythagorean Theorem, allowing students to develop the pattern on their own while also seeing one example proof of the theorem.
Highlights
Description
This activity is meant for students to discover the relationship described by the Pythagorean Theorem. There are three right triangles and one scalene triangle, each drawn with squares off of their sides. Once students find the area of each square, teachers can ask them to look for a relationship between the area of the squares. Students will be able to see that a^2+b^2 = c^2 in the right triangles but not in the scalene triangle. This is a great activity to introduce the Pythagorean Theorem, allowing students to develop the pattern on their own while also seeing one example proof of the theorem.


