Dear Expert,
I was wondering if you have any real-life uses of the pythagorean theorem that you use in your everyday life. I have a project and one of the parts was to ask an expert about my topic.
My name is Tiffany I am a student and the level is a secondary question.
Thank you,
Tiffany
Hi Tiffany,
We have received this question many times. One example, given by Claude, is familiar to many people who have built a fence.
The following six examples come for people who have asked us to help with a problem. These are not "made up" school problems but real problems that have arisen in their work or home lives.
- Area of a lot
- An octagonal playhouse
- A stained glass window
- Bundles of asphalt shingles
- An octagon-shaped deck
- A 3 dimensional 5 pointed star
Each of these involves a use of Pythagoras' Theorem in the solution. The last, which is my favourite, does not mention Pythagoras' Theorem explicitly, but the expression used to find the length of HB is Pythagoras' Theorem.
Penny