Pythagoras 700 BC

Almost every person with a high school education has heard of Pythagoras and his famous theorem a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

Or "a square plus b square equals c square"

and the most famous triangle is the 3-4-5 triangle

3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2

9 + 16 = 25

Of course in Pythagoras days they did not have algebra (this did not come along until the 1,000 AD with the Arabs and Hindu at least in Western Civilization history).

In the movie the Wizard of Oz, the scarecrow wants a brain (if you watch the movie closely, it is the scarecrow that comes up with most of the plans, so he does have brain). The wizard tells him the one thing he does not have is a Diploma.

So the wizard gives the scarecrow a diploma and he states:

"The sum of the square roots of any two sides
of an isosceles triangle
is equal to the square root of the remaining side."

OOPS !! what was that ? "square roots" ? I don't think so. Isosceles triangle ? Everyone knows you need a RIGHT triangle.

So the very first thing out of scarecrows mouth is WRONG !! (do you see the irony)

It is not the piece of paper that gives us brains, it is the 12 or 16 or 20 years of schooling.

Of course we all know the author did it this way because square root sounds more interesting then square. And Isosceles is a nice Greek word.

The other story about the 3-4-5 triangle has to do with the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush (younger brother of President Bush and son of the President Papa Bush)

There was a news conference in Orlando about the FCAT's (these are statewide testing giving to high school kids that they must pass (whatever that means) in order to get a high school diploma). A college student asked Gov. Bush if HE had taken the FCAT's and he said YES !! (by the way he did very well on them...would love to see some newspaper guys take the test...lol)

She said that one of the questions on HER FCAT's was what were the angles of a 3-4-5 triangle.

Gov. Bush said well i know it is a right triangle and that there are 180 degrees in a triangle, but i can not figure out the angles without a calculator.

The liberal papers had a field day with that one. One paper asked the college student what the correct answer was, and she said 30-60-90 triangle. WRONG !!

So i wrote a little article for the Tampa Tribune.

1. you need trigonometry to find the angles of a 3-4-5 triangle. Trig is NOT on the FACT's.

2. the college student's answer of 30-60-90 triangle is wrong, because anyone who studied geometry and has a high school diploma should know that in a 30-60-90 triangle the side opposite the 30 degree angle is one half the length of the hypotenuse (this fact is on the SAT's.... taken before going to college).

Using this fact and Pythagoras, most high school students know that a 30-60-90 triangle would have to be something in the ratio 1 - square root 3 - 2. (you will probably need pencil and paper to verify this little fact)

Of course my article did go on to say that this problem could have been on the FCAT's because all it requires is a little elementary geometry. Since the FCAT's are multiple choice, if the choice were:
A) 30-60-90
B) 60-60-60
C) 45-45-90
D) 30-40-50 (most adults would pick this one)
E) NOTA (none of the above)

The answer would be E !! and I know Gov. Bush would have gotten this correct answer.

A few historical facts about Pythagoras. He lived in Italy. He had many followers and they tried to help the sick and the poor. It was said that Pythagoras had healing powers, probably knew something about plants and herbs. He also knew how to predict the weather and was said he could calm the storms. Lets just say he was well ahead of his time.