Pythagoras' Theorem

[Chishnfips]

22 years ago I learned Pythagoras' Theorem at school. Today is the first time ever in my life I have ever had to use it and still I used an online calculator to work it out for me. I don't know if I'll ever need to use it again but boy am I glad for all those hours at school learning for this very day to arrive.

Yay! What did you use it for?

Next you'll find a use for knowing that the angle subtended by a semicircle is a right angle. I've never had to use that one.

Drafting a dressmakers pattern.

So much of what we learnt at school is totally pointless to real life. I've never used my knowledge of Roman battle tactics, dates of various wars, names of the Tudors, formation of Oxbow lakes or any of the French or German I learned at school. For some reason it's always the maths equations that people complain about wasting hours over learning.

On the other hand, I've used Pythagoras Theorem several times for doing various bits of DIY - I probably didn't need to but I loved maths at school so get a wee bit of happy nostalgia whenever I get a chance to use it!

Love this! I'm 50 and still haven't had a need to use it 😄

So much of what we learnt at school is totally pointless to real life

The point is that you learned, so you can learn other things. You were introduced to rules and then had to apply them. Now you can learn other rules and apply those. Hopefully.

I was 65 before I used Pythagoras theorem for the first time: my friend needed to work out how much bunting to make to decorate a village hall. I'm still waiting for the occasion when I need to climb a rope...

The only part I can remember is "the sum of the squares on the other two sides". Can't even remember what it's for!

The other point of course is that up to GCSE level you get a smattering of lots of things. That means you can learn what you are good at or interested in, and you can further build on those foundations. A child doesn't know what direction they will go in, so giving them stimuli from a wide range of topics gives a good starting point.

Personally I find understanding how the area of a triangle is calculated a help when dividing the last slice of cake fairly.

Ha ha. I've just had to help DP (age 50) with this because he was doing a new qualification where he needed to understand it (a mainly manual job but it uses ropes and he needs to understand how long the ropes need to be when they're at an angle). We were saying that he probably thought he'd never need to use it when he learned it at school nearly 40 years ago.

I use geometry when scaling recipes, eg if the recipe is for an 8 inch tin and I only have a 6 inch one.

For a right angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square on the other two sides. (The hypotenuse the the longest side, opposite the right angle)

So if you know 2 side lengths you can find the third. alternately you can see whether a triangle is right angled or not.

or rather 'sum of the squares of the other two sides'

I don't remember ever needing to use it or if I even remembered it properly before. But after learning it again with dc, I actually found it really fascinating.
Opportunity to use it is everywhere if you look around.

Education is wasted on the young!

Yeah maths what a pointless subject! What in the world is it actually good for? Who ever uses it for anything?

It really is. I recently took the opportunity to visit a European capital city that I went to on a school trip for language and history classes and hated, thought it was boring, etc etc.

I think the thing we liked best was that there was beer in the vending machine in the accommodation common room, which admittedly is quite exciting when you're 14 and not very closely supervised.

But this time, to 40 something me, it was amazing, and I just loved wandering around looking at all the things that teenage me thought was the dullest thing on earth.

I used it in my first graduate job and was bemused... never used it since