Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
990,738,306 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

hypotenuse

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.

In a right triangle, the side opposite the right angle. See sine.


(mathematics)hypotenuse - The side of a right-angled triangle opposite the right angle.

?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
If we draw out from the center of the circle to the base of this triangle a vertical line, then the two angles formed on both sides of this vertical line will be right-angled, and the [original] triangle, due to this drawn out vertical line, will be halved into two right-angled triangles, and the two lines falling on the two extremities [of the locus of contact] will become hypotenuses of these two right-angled triangles, and the vertical line becomes a hypotenuse of [i.
The resulting new hypotenuse evidently is larger than the hypotenuse for the right angle.
Diaconis speculates that Archimedes might have been using the Stomachion to construct a pictorial proof of some geometric result such as the Pythagorean theorem, the famous equation relating the lengths of the two shorter sides of a right triangle and the length of the hypotenuse.
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.