A Brief History of
Pythagorus
and the
Pythagorean Theorem
• Pythagorus was born on the island of
Samos in ancient Greece.
• We don’t know the exact year that he
was born, but it is believed that he
was born around 570 B.C.
• That’s almost 2580 years ago.
• Pythagorus traveled to Egypt and
studied astronomy, philosophy, and
geometry with Egyptian priests.
• By the time he was 55, he had
returned to Greece and started a
school.
• Pythagorus was the head of a secret
group of men who worshipped numbers.
They tried to find a mathematical
explanation for music, and the heavens.
The Pythagorean Theorem
Pythagorus was believed to be the
first person to prove that this rule
worked.
“In a right triangle, the sum of the
squares of the legs is equal to the
square of the hypotenuse.”
Vocabulary Words
Legs – the two shorter sides of a
right triangle
Hypotenuse – the longer side of a
right triangle
hypotenuse
leg
leg
We’ll call the LEGS – “a” and “b”
and the HYPOTENUSE – “c”.
2
a
+
2
b
=
2
c