How to Use right triangle in a Sentence

right triangle

noun
  • If your trig is hazy, just remember that all trig functions tell us about the ratio of sides for right triangles.
    — Rhett Allain, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2023
  • Pythagorean triples are sets of numbers that correspond to the sides of right triangles.
    — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 25 Aug. 2017
  • These functions, such as the sine and cosine, are defined using right triangles.
    — Leila Sloman, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2023
  • Leo’s hindquarters are marked by a right triangle, whose eastern apex is marked by the star Denebola.
    — Geoff Chester, Washington Post, 1 June 2023
  • Each Hirzebruch surface is obtained by chopping off the top corner of this right triangle.
    — Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 17 Oct. 2022
  • Now imagine that your right triangle has an angle that is constantly increasing.
    — Rhett Allain, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2023
  • By way of analogy, in flat space, the hypotenuse of a right triangle is always a2 + b2 = c2.
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • If the two legs of a right triangle each have the same rational length, Hippasus is said to have shown, its hypotenuse cannot have a rational length.
    — Quanta Magazine, 9 July 2013
  • The Pythagorean theorem provides an equation to calculate the longer side of a right triangle by summing the squares of the other two sides.
    — Leila Sloman, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2023
  • In this equation, a, b and c represent the lengths of the three sides of a right triangle, a triangle with a 90-degree angle between two of its sides.
    — Leila Sloman, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2023
  • So, when the side lengths of a right triangle are labeled a, b, and c, the Pythagorean theorem may be written as the equation a2 + b2 = c2.
    — Joshua A. Krisch, Popular Mechanics, 6 Dec. 2013
  • Under the rules for creating these 2D pictures, a four-dimensional ball becomes a right triangle.
    — Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 17 Oct. 2022
  • This equation also represents a fundamental property of right triangles — that the square of the longest side, or hypotenuse, is the sum of the squares of the other two shorter sides.
    — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2017
  • Consider a hypothetical rigid object that is shaped like a right triangle with virtually all of its mass concentrated at its vertices.
    — Quanta Magazine, 5 Dec. 2019
  • Vega, Deneb and Altair make a right triangle with the right angle at Deneb, this is called the Summer Triangle.
    — Jesse Emspak, Space.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • Today, Pythagorean triples are still useful in calculating the lengths of each side of a right triangle, namely in navigation and construction.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 16 Aug. 2021
  • His theorem, a part of Euclidean geometry taught in many high school math classes, states that the hypotenuse of a right triangle (the side opposite the right angle) equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
    — Kevin Kelleher, Fortune, 21 June 2018
  • That humble equation describing a right triangle led to the invention of coordinate geometry, an essential tool for mapping and measuring the planet.
    — Valerie Ross, Discover Magazine, 8 Apr. 2012
  • Remember the Pythagorean Theorem for solving right triangles, that x2 y2 = z2?
    — Andrew Moseman, Popular Mechanics, 1 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'right triangle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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