Comment by einpoklum

Comment by einpoklum 4 days ago

That looks like "half" of the proof using a square:

https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/image-files/xpythagorean-...

where you draw three extra triangles, not just one, and they surround a square of c x c. Think about it as making two copies of the trapezoid, one rotated on top of the other.

sorokod 4 days ago

I shared this one with my son, the step where the 2ab expressions cancel out gave him a little aha moment.

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procrastitron 4 days ago

This was exactly what I thought of as well.

Garfield’s version seems more complicated since you have to calculate the area of a trapezoid instead of the area of a square, but conceptually they are the same.

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