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As a consequence of the Pythagorean theorem, the hypotenuse is the longest side of any right triangle; that is, the hypotenuse is longer than either of the triangle's legs. For example, given the length of the legs a = 5 and b = 12, then the sum of the legs squared is (5 × 5) + (12 × 12) = 169, the square of the hypotenuse.
A right triangle or right-angled triangle, sometimes called an orthogonal triangle or rectangular triangle, is a triangle in which two sides are perpendicular, forming a right angle (1 ⁄ 4 turn or 90 degrees). The side opposite to the right angle is called the hypotenuse (side in the figure).
The oldest and most elementary definitions are based on the geometry of right triangles and the ratio between their sides. The proofs given in this article use these definitions, and thus apply to non-negative angles not greater than a right angle. For greater and negative angles, see Trigonometric functions.
Given two sides and their included angle in a scalene triangle, he proposed finding the third side by dropping a perpendicular from the vertex of one of the unknown angles to the opposite base, reducing the problem to finding the legs of one right triangle from a known angle and hypotenuse using the law of sines and then finding the hypotenuse ...
In similar triangles, the ratios of the sides are the same regardless of the size of the triangles, and depend upon the angles. Consequently, in the figure, the triangle with hypotenuse of unit size has opposite side of size sin θ and adjacent side of size cos θ in units of the hypotenuse.
The adjacent leg is the other side that is adjacent to angle A. The opposite side is the side that is opposite to angle A. The terms perpendicular and base are sometimes used for the opposite and adjacent sides respectively. See below under Mnemonics. Sine (denoted sin), defined as the ratio of the side opposite the angle to the hypotenuse.
The reciprocal identities arise as ratios of sides in the triangles where this unit line is no longer the hypotenuse. The triangle shaded blue illustrates the identity 1 + cot 2 θ = csc 2 θ {\displaystyle 1+\cot ^{2}\theta =\csc ^{2}\theta } , and the red triangle shows that tan 2 θ + 1 = sec 2 θ {\displaystyle \tan ^{2 ...
Image mnemonic to help remember the ratios of sides of a right triangle. The sine, cosine, and tangent ratios in a right triangle can be remembered by representing them as strings of letters, for instance SOH-CAH-TOA in English: Sine = Opposite ÷ Hypotenuse Cosine = Adjacent ÷ Hypotenuse Tangent = Opposite ÷ Adjacent