Pythagorean Theorem & Basics of Triangles - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep

Triangles are fundamental geometric shapes with three sides, classified into equilateral, isosceles, and scalene based on side lengths, and acute, obtuse, and right based on angles. The Pythagorean theorem, \(a^2 + b^2 = c^2\), is essential for solving right triangles, where \(c\) is the hypotenuse. Understanding that the sum of angles in any triangle equals 180 degrees is crucial for finding missing angles or sides. Mastery of these concepts lays the groundwork for more advanced geometric applications.

Review of Triangles

Hey, everyone. Welcome back. So we're going to spend a lot of time in this course talking about angles and triangles. I want to give you a really good solid foundation for this because we'll be talking about them a lot later on. In this video, I'm just going to walk you through a basic refresher on the basics of triangles. There are a couple of important conceptual and mathematical things you need to know, and then we'll do some examples together. Let's get started here. A triangle is really just a geometric shape with 3 sides. That's a really basic definition over here. All these things here have 3 sides, and they all sort of close together to form a shape, and that's a triangle. Now, there are actually 3 types of triangles that we can classify based on the lengths of their sides. This is just some vocabulary that you'll need to know. Alright? The first one is called an equilateral triangle, and this is where, if you'll see, all of the lengths of the triangle are the same. All of them have a length of 3. Equilateral just means that 3 sides have equal length. That's actually what that word means. Alright? The way that we indicate this in diagrams is you'll see these little tick marks next to the numbers. That just means that those 2 or 3 measurements are all the same. That's an equilateral. An isosceles triangle is the next type, and this is where actually 2 of the side lengths have equal length. Notice how the bottom side is 3, and these two top sides over here are 5. That's an isosceles triangle. The last one is called a scalene triangle. This is where actually none of the sides have equal length. Notice how this is a 3, this is a 5, and this is a 6, so you'll see no tick marks anywhere. Another way of saying this is that all the sides are different in the scalene triangle. Alright? That's really all you need to know about their sides. Now whenever sides meet in a triangle, they actually form angles. So the way we indicate this is by using a little curved arc symbol over here and we express that angle in terms of degrees. So wherever you have two sides of a triangle meet, they form angles, and there are 3 other types of triangles that we can classify based on those angles. Alright. So again, this is just more vocabulary over here. An acute triangle over here is one in which all of the angles are less than 90 degrees. All of these words that you'll see—acute, obtuse, and right—have to do with what those angles are relative to 90. Look at these angles over here. All of these angles are less than 90 degrees, so this is an acute triangle. Alright? So in this next one over here, you'll see two angles that measure 35 degrees, but there's one of them that measures 110. And this is an example of an obtuse triangle because one angle is greater than 90 degrees. So that's an obtuse triangle. The last one is called a right triangle. We're going to be spending a lot of time talking about these, and these are special triangles where one of the angles is exactly equal to 90 degrees. Alright? Now regardless of any type of triangle, whether we're looking at the sides or the angles, one really important thing you need to know is that in any type of triangle, all angles will always add up to 180 degrees. That is a fundamental property of triangles. So you would look at all of the triangles over here, all these three numbers will add up to 180. Same thing for this and same thing for this. Alright? So that's really important because if you know that all of the angles add up to 180, if you're ever missing one of them, then you can always find the other one. Alright? So that's actually really important. Let's go ahead and take a look at our first example over here. We're going to, for each of these triangles, figure out the missing angle or the missing side. Alright? So in this case, over here for this first example, we have a missing side represented by a variable over here. This is x. How do we find that? Well, we haven't discussed any mathematical ways of calculating this, but one of the things you can notice here is that these tick marks mean that the measurements have to be the same. So in other words, if the left side is 4, then that means that this also has to equal 4. Alright? So that's just something that you might need to know. Let's take a look at the next one, example b. This is one where we have 2 of the angles. This is 40 degrees, 40 degrees, but we're actually missing one of the other ones. How can I find that? Well, again, remember, all of the angles have to add up to 180 degrees in any triangle. So if you're ever missing one of them, you can always find the other. I'm just going to set up a simple equation over here. This is going to be 40 plus 40 plus theta. So in other words, if I add up all of the angles, I have to get 180. If I just subtract 40 from both sides over here, this is basically the same thing as subtracting 80. What we're going to find here is that this angle is equal to 100 degrees. Alright? So this angle over here is 100 degrees, and therefore, this would actually be an obtuse triangle, but that's not what the question asked us. Alright? But that's the answer, theta equals 100. So that's it. That's just a basic introduction. Let's go ahead and get some practice.

Classify the triangle below according to its sides and angles.



I. Equilateral

II. Isosceles

III. Scalene

IV. Acute

V. Obtuse

VI. Right

• A. I and IV
• B. I and V
• C. II and V
• D. II and IV
• E. III and VI
• F. Only one of I, II, III, IV, V, and V

Find the missing angle $\theta$ for this right triangle.

• A. 30°
• B. 60°
• C. 90°
• D. 120°

Solving Right Triangles with the Pythagorean Theorem

Everyone, so in a previous video, we discussed the basics of triangles, and I mentioned that we would very commonly be working with right triangles. But one of the most common situations that you'll see is where you have two sides of a right triangle that are known, but you have an unknown side. So for example, we have 3 and 4 that are known here, but this side x here is missing. Well, don't worry because in these kinds of situations, we can always solve for this missing side by using something called the Pythagorean theorem. It's probably something that you've heard before in a math class, but we're going to be using it a lot in this course, and you'll need to know it. So I'm going to go ahead and explain it to you. What I'm going to show you is that it's really just an equation relating the three sides of a right triangle. Let's go ahead and get started. We'll do some examples together. Alright?

The first thing you need to know about the Pythagorean theorem is you can only use it when you have a right triangle. Alright? So, you can only use it when you can assume or when you know that one of the angles over here is 90 degrees. If you don't know that, then this equation won't work. So what is the equation? Well, it's really just a2+b2=c2. Again, you've probably heard that before, but what it really means is if I take these two numbers over here, a and b, they'll just be numbers, and I square them and add them together, that's the same exact value as this side over here squared as well. Let's take a look at our first example, so we can actually just get some practice with this and do it together. Alright?

So we have 3 and 4 that are known over here, and you have x that's unknown. This is a right triangle, so I'll be able to use the Pythagorean theorem to solve that missing side. I just have my equation over here, a2+b2=c2. Alright? So how does this work? Well, what's really, really important about the Pythagorean theorem as well, is that you always have to keep in mind, take notes that your a and b need to be the shorter legs of the triangle. Always set your a and b as the shorter legs that form the corner, that form the 90 degree angle, and then you want to set c as the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse of a triangle is always the longest side, which usually is going to be the diagonal. Not always, but it's almost always going to be the diagonal one. Alright?

So in this right triangle over here, what we can see is that these two form the sort of corner like this, that's a and b, and c is going to be the diagonal, the longer ones. That's what we set as c. Now, when it comes to a and b, it actually doesn't matter which one you pick as a or b. I'm going to go ahead and just pick this one as my a and this one as my b. So what this equation says is that a2+b2=c2. So in other words, if I take 4 and I square it, and I add it to 3 and I square it, and I figure that out, that's going to give me this missing side squared. That's going to be x2. Alright. So 42+32, this actually just ends up being 16 plus 9. That's going to equal x2. And if you actually just go ahead and work that out, that's going to be 25. So are we done here? Is the answer just 25? Well, no. A lot of students will mess this up. You

Calculate the missing side of the triangle below.



• A. 9
• B. 25
• C. 19
• D. 15

Calculate the missing side of the triangle below.



• A. $2\sqrt5$
• B. $2$
• C. $5$
• D. $2\sqrt3$

Here’s what students ask on this topic:

What are the different types of triangles based on side lengths?

Triangles can be classified into three types based on their side lengths: equilateral, isosceles, and scalene. An equilateral triangle has all three sides of equal length. An isosceles triangle has two sides of equal length, while the third side is different. A scalene triangle has all three sides of different lengths. Understanding these classifications is essential for solving various geometric problems and for identifying properties unique to each type of triangle.

How do you classify triangles based on their angles?

Triangles can be classified into three types based on their angles: acute, obtuse, and right. An acute triangle has all three angles less than 90 degrees. An obtuse triangle has one angle greater than 90 degrees. A right triangle has one angle exactly equal to 90 degrees. These classifications help in understanding the properties and solving problems related to triangles, especially when using the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles.

What is the Pythagorean theorem and how is it used?

The Pythagorean theorem is a fundamental principle in geometry that applies to right triangles. It states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Mathematically, it is expressed as $a^2+b^2=c^2$, where $c$ is the hypotenuse. This theorem is used to find the length of a missing side in a right triangle when the lengths of the other two sides are known.

How do you find a missing angle in a triangle?

To find a missing angle in a triangle, you can use the fact that the sum of all angles in any triangle is always 180 degrees. If you know the measures of two angles, you can find the third angle by subtracting the sum of the known angles from 180 degrees. For example, if you have angles of 50 degrees and 60 degrees, the missing angle would be 180 - (50 + 60) = 70 degrees.

Can the Pythagorean theorem be used for non-right triangles?

No, the Pythagorean theorem can only be used for right triangles. It specifically applies to triangles where one of the angles is exactly 90 degrees. For non-right triangles, other methods such as the Law of Sines or the Law of Cosines are used to find missing sides or angles.