8th grade Pythagorean Theorem

I am trying to help my son w/homework, and I really don't have a clue about this, sad, I know.

I thought if I could understand it, I could help him understand it.

THe subject is Pythagorean THeorem.

He needs to come up with 3 real world scenarios w/representation of R triangles....1 w/Right triangle base lenght known, 1 w/height unknown, and 1 with hypotenuse unknown?

I don't even know how to explain to him Pythagorean Theorem, I can hardly spell it!

Help?

Quote:

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1 with hypotenuse unknown

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I'm standing 20 feet from a 50 foot tall building. How far am I from the top of the building?

Sorry, your Web browser is not Java compatible. This prototype will not be of much interest to you.

Here is a nice diagram to model the pythagoreum theorum, although usually the formula is where side BC=a, AC=b, and AB=c. You can move the red points.






The pythagoreum theorum states although it is written more commonly as where is the side opposite angle a (in the diagram).
"c" must always be the hypotenuse.





Tell me if this helps.