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Intermediate

The Pythagoras bug

Two blue squares and two red right triangles. What are the proportions of the triangle sides?

Author: Matthew Arcus.

Scroll down for a solution to this problem.

Solution

The triangle proportions are 3 : 4 : 5.

Solution to a more general problem by Bob Ruyle.

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3 replies on “The Pythagoras bug”

Note that the general solution proves the theorem of Pythagoras, with an interesting link to the generation of Pythagorean triples, and in fact the problem is closely modelled on the recent proof of that theorem by Jackson and Johnson.

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