Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Pythagorean triple
Summary
A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers a, b, and c, such that a^2 + b^2 = c^2. Such a triple is commonly written (a, b, c), and a well-known example is (3, 4, 5). If (a, b, c) is a Pythagorean triple, then so is (ka, kb, kc) for any positive integer k. A primitive Pythagorean triple is one in which a, b and c are coprime (that is, they have no common divisor larger than 1). For example, (3, 4, 5) is a primitive Pythagorean triple whereas (6, 8, 10) is not. A triangle whose sides form a Pythagorean triple is called a Pythagorean triangle, and is necessarily a right triangle.
The name is derived from the Pythagorean theorem, stating that every right triangle has side lengths satisfying the formula ; thus, Pythagorean triples describe the three integer side lengths of a right triangle. However, right triangles with non-integer sides do not form Pythagorean triples. For instance, the triangle with sides and is a right triangle, but is not a Pythagorean triple because is not an integer. Moreover, and do not have an integer common multiple because is irrational.
Pythagorean triples have been known since ancient times. The oldest known record comes from Plimpton 322, a Babylonian clay tablet from about 1800 BC, written in a sexagesimal number system. It was discovered by Edgar James Banks shortly after 1900, and sold to George Arthur Plimpton in 1922, for $10.
When searching for integer solutions, the equation a^2 + b^2 = c^2 is a Diophantine equation. Thus Pythagorean triples are among the oldest known solutions of a nonlinear Diophantine equation.
There are 16 primitive Pythagorean triples of numbers up to 100:
Other small Pythagorean triples such as (6, 8, 10) are not listed because they are not primitive; for instance (6, 8, 10) is a multiple of (3, 4, 5).
Each of these points (with their multiples) forms a radiating line in the scatter plot to the right.
Additionally, these are the remaining primitive Pythagorean triples of numbers up to 300:
Formulas for generating Pythagorean triples
Euclid's formula is a fundamental formula for generating Pythagorean triples given an arbitrary pair of integers m and n with m > n > 0.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (4)
MATH-126: Geometry for architects II
Ce cours traite des 3 sujets suivants : la perspective, la géométrie descriptive, et une initiation à la géométrie projective.
MATH-111(e): Linear Algebra
L'objectif du cours est d'introduire les notions de base de l'algèbre linéaire et ses applications.
MATH-124: Geometry for architects I
Ce cours entend exposer les fondements de la géométrie à un triple titre :
1/ de technique mathématique essentielle au processus de conception du projet,
2/ d'objet privilégié des logiciels de concept
Related publications (12)
Related concepts (25)
Geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer. Until the 19th century, geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry, which includes the notions of point, line, plane, distance, angle, surface, and curve, as fundamental concepts.
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 theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of the sides a, b and the hypotenuse c, sometimes called the Pythagorean equation: The theorem is named for the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, born around 570 BC.
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than 2. The cases n = 1 and n = 2 have been known since antiquity to have infinitely many solutions. The proposition was first stated as a theorem by Pierre de Fermat around 1637 in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica. Fermat added that he had a proof that was too large to fit in the margin.