Pythagorean Theorem
(Mod IV)

This is great but the proof
you see on the next page
is still better.

The best part is any second grader can get their hands on it and see it for themselves...curious? You'll need the Module IV password to see it for yourself.  i show you how to use your base ten blocks to make this concept easy and understandable and hands on. They will experience it and because they can get their hands on it there is no question that those two squares add up to the big one...

One the best teaching experiences i had in my life was when i taught this to a room full of second graders and one of them said toward the end of the lesson, "Hey Mr! Then that means a² + b² = c²"!!! He figured it out for himself because we put him in a math rich environment. Does matter that Pythagoras wrote it down a couple of thousand years ago he "discovered" it himself. 

In fact the proof you will see was given to me by a little boy in Utah who showed me you didn't have to swap the blocks out to prove it you can use the three's and fours or sixes and eights to make 25 or 100 as the case may be. Get your Mod IV password and click:

Enter
M4

The next page shows you how to make Pythagorean theorem easy and understandable for little kids.

Start by building squares. Talk about square roots, & what the symbol means.  Then build Triangles using your squares. The 3-4-5 Pythagorean triple, is small and easy to count for little kids. But the concept is huge.

a² + b² = c²

The next page contains video & lessons to help you make this concept easy for your kids. This is one of the basic building blocks for Trigonometry. Understanding this concept early on lowers the cognitive load later.

This page will help you avoid the problems that this student and teacher had.

CLEARLY, we have fallen so far that the "teachers" of mathematic no longer understand mathematics. 

PAY ATTENTION.

Crewton Ramone is in the house.  So she clearly can't understand that the formula for a circle is just Pythagorean theorem applied too.

i lifted this from mathsathome.com it should be pretty clear that 
(x-a)² + (y-b)² = r² is just fancy a² + b² = c².  i claim fair use, especially since i "paid" them with not one but two inbound links. 

Are you starting to see how important concept based teaching is? We started this journey building squares and making a pyramid.

Mathematics really can be child's play. Just because this is part of module four doesn't mean you can't start fooling around with the lessons you find on the next page at the same time they're learning other basics like addition or division. Square numbers should be part of your early lessons (use module three password), on the next page you'll see little second graders having fun with this concept.

There are two videos that show a classroom full of second graders who were only seven and eight years old building pyramids out of squares like the one you see above and counting them as part of the lesson. None of them thought it was hard, or difficult to understand. In fact they went home and explained it to their parents who later mobbed me at a birthday party when they discovered I was the guy that had taught their children Pythagorean theorem. 

The children came home excited and happy...And when the parents asked, "what did you learn today?" Their children could explain this fundamental theorem, much the amazement of one of the parents who had a degree in physics, & who would never have thought of teaching his little daughter this until high school.  

Enter
M4

Here are some triples to get started with. You can also double or triple them. In other words (3, 4, 5) & (6, 8, 10) & (9, 12, 15) all work and are easy to build with blocks.

Click enter to introduce your kids to Pythagorean Theorem, the easy and fun way.

(3, 4, 5) (5, 12, 13) (8, 15, 17) (7, 24, 25)

(20, 21, 29) (12, 35, 37) (9, 40, 41) (28, 45, 53)

(11, 60, 61) (16, 63, 65) (33, 56, 65) (48, 55, 73)

(13, 84, 85) (36, 77, 85) (39, 80, 89) (65, 72, 97)

Home.

πr²
Mod IV

"Numbers rule the Universe." ~Pythagoras

“Geometry has two great treasures; one is the Theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel.” ~ Johannes Kepler

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." -- Albert Einstein

“When one teaches, two learn.” ~Robert Heinlein

"Technical skill is mastery of complexity while creativity is mastery of simplicity." ~ E Christopher Zeeman, Catastrophe Theory, 1977

More education quotes.