(Mathematics) the theorem that in a right-angled triangle the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides
Okay, maybe that's a bit strong, but 50 years ago the world was a straight place which had just got straighter, thanks to all these stern-faced masters, capes billowing in a fug of chalkdust, whiskers flaring (and that was just the women), the belt at the ready, who talked to us of past participles, Pythagoras' theorem and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
* The geometric relationship described by Pythagoras' theorem was known before Pythagoras 'discovered' it, but Pythagoras is said to be the first to have formally proved it.
Yet, Pythagoras' theorem does not apply to triangles drawn solely in Greece, nor does Mendeleev's periodic table describe chemical elements found only in Russia, a point made by the great Russian playwright and physician Anton Chekhov with characteristic succinctness in his Notebook: "There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science."
And whilst I have made a living from the first subject scribbling away for well over 30 years, I never once upon leaving school had to recite Peig Sayers' tale of woe on the Blasket Islands or explain Pythagoras' theorem.
Dr Zunckel said: "By applying Pythagoras' theorem to the estimated measurements of Ross's sofa in a vertical position and dimensions of the stairwell, I was able to establish that it would have been possible for Ross to get the sofa up the stairwell and into the flat without resorting to the extreme measure of chopping it in half.
For example, Figure 1 is mathematically inconsistent because ACB = 90[degrees] (right angle in semi-circle) since AB is the diameter, but the lengths of the three sides of ABC do not satisfy Pythagoras' Theorem (since [5.sup.2] + [12.sup.2] = [13.sup.2], and not [14.sup.2]).
Ask me to figure out Pythagoras' theorem and I could give you an off-kilter quote about the sum of squares and opposite sides, but I'm still not entirely sure what it means.
Not to be left behind, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan claimed at the same conference that the Pythagoras' theorem too was formulated in ancient India but Pythagoras got the credit.
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