An Elegant Proof of the

Pythagoras Theorem
Ravi S. Iyer, Ph.D
rabisnkr@gmail.com

Contents
1 Introduction

2 The proof

A Area of a rectangle

B Area of a right angle triangle

C Area of a scalene triangle

Introduction

The proof of the Pythagoras theorem, as taught in schools, involves constructing squares on the
three sides of a right angle and using a series of elaborate intermediate constructions and proofs.
The following proof (from Vedic mathematics) is very simple and elegant. It makes use of the concept of areas of squares and triangles. Please note, these two concepts can be defined (and derived)
using simple construction that do not depend on the Pythagoras theorem at all (see Appendix).

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

The proof

Consider the right angle ABC shown in figure 1.

The area of ABC is
Area (ABC) =

1
1
base altitude =
2
2

Figure 1: A right angle ABC.

Figure 2: Square constructed using ABC.

Using ABC, construct the square PQRS as shown in figure 2. Please note that each of the four
2

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

colored triangles shown in the figure is an exact replica of ABC, but rotated clockwise through
0, 90, 180, and 270 respectively.
Now, consider the figure TUVW.
+ + = 180. By construction, = , and +
= 180 = 180 90 = 90. Therefore, = 90.
Similarly, = = = 90. Therefore, UVWT is a square. Hence its area
is 2 .
Consider the area of square PQRS. Its area is ( + )2 = 2 + 2 + 2.
Area of PQRS is also equal to 4 Area + Area .
Hence
1
2 + 2 + 2 = 4 + 2
2
= 2 + 2

2 + 2 = 2

Which is the Pythagoras theorem.

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

Area of a rectangle

Define the square of side 1 (whatever may be the unit, but consistently applied) to be of unit area.
Let us call this the unit square tile.
Consider a rectangle with sides and respectively. The interior of this rectangle can be completely tiled with the unit square tile in the form of a rectangular array of rows (running parallel
to the side of length ), and columns (running parallel to the side of length ) as shown in figure
3. As tiles are required, the area of the rectangle is .

Figure 3: The interior of a rectangle of sides with length and respectively can be tiled completely
using the unit tile, using tiles in each row running parallel to the side with length , and tiles in
each column running parallel to the side with length , hence requiring tiles.
This argument can easily be extended to address cases where and take fractional or irrational
values.

B Area of a right angle triangle

This is easy. Consider the right angle triangle . Construct the quadrilateral ACBD by
replicating (and rotating the duplicate through 180) as shown in figure 4.
As the angles ACB and ADB are right angles (by construction), and by symmetry the angles CAD
4

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

and CBD are also right angles, the figure ACBD is a rectangle with sides and . Hence its area
is . As it was created using two identical triangles, the area of the triangle is 12 .

Figure 4: Creating a rectangle ACB from a given right angle triangle ABC.

Area of a scalene triangle

Figure 5: Construction to derive the formula for the area of scalene triangle ABC.
If we can prove that the formula is the same for any arbitrary triangle such as a scalene triangle* ,
which has nothing particular about it, then it will work for special triangles such as isosceles, equilateral, or right triangle.
* A scalene triangle is a triangle that has three unequal sides

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

So, let us start this time with the simple scalene triangle ABC (see figure 5, which has all acute
angles, and nothing special about it.
Drop a perpendicular from the vertex B onto AC and call the point of intersection, D, as shown in
figure 5. Let the length of the segment AD = x, and that of segment CD = y. Therefore, the length
of the base (AC) of = x + y. Let the length of BD be h.
Therefore,
Area of = Area of + Area of

Area of triangle =
=
=
=
=

( ) ( )
+
2
2
1
{( ) + ( )}
2
1
( + ) .
2
1
.
2
1
base altitude
2

Let us now extend the proof for the scalene triangle ABC with an obtuse angle as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6: Construction to derive the formula for the area of scalene triangle ABC with an obtuse
angle.

An Elegant Proof of the Pythagoras Theorem

As before, drop a perpendicular from the vertex B onto CA extended, and call the point of intersection, D, as shown in figure 6. Let the length of the segment AD = x, and that of segment CD =
y. Therefore, the length of the base (AC) of = y - x Let the length of BD be h.
Therefore,
Area of = Area of - Area of

Area of triangle =
=
=
=
=

( ) ( )

2
2
1
{( ) ( )}
2
1
( )
2
1
.
2
1
base altitude
2