I was trying to prove the Pythagorean theorem on my own and stumbled into this.
You take a right triangle and create three similar triangles by scaling each one by one of the side lengths and rearrange them into a rectangle with one side being a\^2 + b\^2 and the opposite side being c\^2 so a\^2 + b\^2 = c\^2.
If you wanted to, you could use the two smaller triangles in the diagram in a different arrangement to form the larger triangle, but I like the way it looks in a rectangle more.
I showed it to a professor and he encouraged me to publish it. I’m thinking I will. I really like this proof and I want to show it to people.
I couldn’t find an example of this proof anywhere. I came across some that looked similar but they seemed to use different logic. I figured I’d try to publish this, but I’m not really sure how to.
I’m not well versed in the community around sharing math and I’m not sure what is seen as worth sharing. Does anyone got any advice on how I can share something like this?
Also, does this count as a proof? Were there any assumptions that need to be explained or does this stand on its own?
I didn’t really explain how they come together to form a rectangle but I’m not sure whether or not it’s a big enough leap that it should be explicitly stated.
