GCSE Pythagoras revision
Use this Pythagoras revision page before testing your own triangle question in the solver tool.
What this topic means and what to look for first.
Pythagoras is a core GCSE geometry topic built around right-angled triangles.
The main check is always whether the triangle is right-angled and whether you identified the hypotenuse correctly.
One reliable route through the topic.
- 1Confirm the triangle is right-angled.
- 2Identify the hypotenuse.
- 3Use a^2 + b^2 = c^2.
- 4Rearrange if you need a shorter side.
- 5Square root carefully and check the triangle length is sensible.
See the method in action.
Find the hypotenuse when the other sides are 6 and 8.
- Use 6^2 + 8^2 = c^2.
- This gives 36 + 64 = 100.
- So c = 10.
Find the missing shorter side when c = 10 and one side is 6.
- Use a^2 + 6^2 = 10^2.
- So a^2 + 36 = 100.
- Therefore a^2 = 64 and a = 8.
Things that commonly send the method off track.
- Using the longest side in the wrong place.
- Applying Pythagoras when the triangle is not right-angled.
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A free account is the current follow-up route for returning to the solver beta and future guide updates as the public library grows.
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Short answers worth checking.
It is the longest side and it sits opposite the right angle.
Yes. Many valid side lengths are not whole numbers.
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