Rule relating the lengths of the sides of a right triangle. It says that the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle).
That is, &math.a;2 + &math.b;2 = &math.c;2, where &math.c; is the length of the hypotenuse. Triads of whole numbers that satisfy it (e.g., 3, 4, and 5) are called Pythagorean triples. &Seealso; law of cosines; law of sines.
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