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Euler's quadrilateral theorem or Euler's law on quadrilaterals, named after Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), describes a relation between the sides of a convex quadrilateral and its diagonals. It is a generalisation of the parallelogram law which in turn can be seen as generalisation of the Pythagorean theorem .
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle ) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the other two sides.
The length of the hypotenuse is thus the square root of 169, denoted , which equals 13. The Pythagorean theorem, and hence this length, can also be derived from the law of cosines in trigonometry. In a right triangle, the cosine of an angle is the ratio of the leg adjacent of the angle and the hypotenuse.
More generally, if the quadrilateral is a rectangle with sides a and b and diagonal d then Ptolemy's theorem reduces to the Pythagorean theorem. In this case the center of the circle coincides with the point of intersection of the diagonals. The product of the diagonals is then d 2, the right hand side of Ptolemy's relation is the sum a 2 + b 2.
Set square shaped as 45° - 45° - 90° triangle The side lengths of a 45° - 45° - 90° triangle 45° - 45° - 90° right triangle of hypotenuse length 1.. In plane geometry, dividing a square along its diagonal results in two isosceles right triangles, each with one right angle (90°, π / 2 radians) and two other congruent angles each measuring half of a right angle (45°, or ...
This follows from the Pythagorean theorem, by which either of these two sums of two squares can be expanded to equal the sum of the four squared distances from the quadrilateral's vertices to the point where the diagonals intersect. Conversely, any quadrilateral in which a 2 + c 2 = b 2 + d 2 must be orthodiagonal. [5]
Geometrically, the square root of 2 is the length of a diagonal across a square with sides of one unit of length; this follows from the Pythagorean theorem. It was probably the first number known to be irrational. [1] The fraction 99 / 70 (≈ 1.4142857) is sometimes used as a good rational approximation with a reasonably small denominator.
The Pythagorean theorem is also ancient, but it could only take its central role in the measurement of distances after the invention of Cartesian coordinates by René Descartes in 1637. The distance formula itself was first published in 1731 by Alexis Clairaut. [33]