You must have heard about the concept of right triangles but you do not have any knowledge about it. We will help you in understanding this concept. Let’s start from scratch, you may or may not know about the types of triangles. Basically, there are three types of them
- Right triangle – it consists of one 90° angle.
- Obtuse triangle: this type of triangle has one angle more than 90° but less than 180°.
- Acute triangle: all 3 angles are less than 90°.
How will you identify a right-angle triangle? If you have no idea about this then let us tell you that just like other triangles, a right-angle triangle also has three sides. One is the hypotenuse (the longest one), the second is perpendicular (the straight one making a 90° angle on the base), and the third is a base (on which perpendicular stands).
Why do you need to study right-angle triangles?
If you observe properly then you will realize that you can make right triangles everywhere, it can be a coffee table, a half sandwich, road maps, etc. Once you have learned to make right triangles, you can apply different properties of it such as the Pythagoras Theorem. If you are a math student then you must know what Pythagoras theorem is. Even if you have no idea or knowledge of it. Do not worry, we will tell you about it. As already stated above, it has 3 sides – hypotenuse, perpendicular, and base. If you will calculate the squares of base and perpendicular and add the squares of both of them then it will be equal to the square of the hypotenuse. If you know the value of any two sides of a right triangle then you will be able to find the third one by applying the Pythagoras theorem.
Right triangles have further types also: the types of right triangles are isosceles right triangles and scalene right triangles. But how will you identify these types? It is very simple to identify the types of right triangles.
- Isosceles right triangles: as you know it has 3 sides. When you add any two sides of it and get it equal to the third one then it is an isosceles right triangle.
- Scalene right triangles: on the contrary to the isosceles right triangles, two sides of a scalene right triangle are never equal to the third. You can apply any combination of the angles but the property of the sum of two sides equal to the third one will never be fulfilled.
Tips and tips for right triangles
Cuemath brings you very easy tips and tricks to learn the concepts of mathematics including the concept of right triangles. The following are the tips and tricks that you can follow in learning about right triangles:
- If you apply the formula of Pythagoras theorem to a right triangle then you will always be able to fulfill the condition of the square of the hypotenuse equal to the sum of the square of base and perpendicular. Let’s say hypotenuse (h) = 5, base (b) = 3, and perpendicular (p) = 4, then on putting the values in h² = p²+b² and on calculating, you will get 25 on the both sides.
- The side that is opposite to the angle of 90° I.e. the right angle is known as the hypotenuse, it is the longest side of the triangle.
- The rest of the two sides are base and perpendicular. These two sides are bisecting each other at the angle of 90°
These are the major tricks and tips that will be helpful in understanding right triangles and Pythagoras theorem. By doing regular practice, you will be able to do it faster. However, you can refer to online tutorials and videos to know more about it. Right triangles and Pythagoras theorem both are helpful in many areas of mathematics.
