Pythagorean theorem fail

Richard over at Tales of the Golem; or, the Modern Epimetheus claims to have “convincing experimental disproof of Pythagoras’s theorem!”


pythagorean disproof

In the first picture, the water covers the area a^2+b^2 while in the third picture, it covers an area larger than that of c^2. Thus, a^2+b^2 > c^2. Guess all of mathematics was wrong! ;-)

** Note: Some posts on Math-Fail are user-submitted and NOT verified by the admin of the site before publication. If you find this post to be distasteful, non-math related, ?or something worse?, then definitely leave a comment letting me know. Thanks very much! Mike **

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  1. That`s impossible!
    Only explanation – he made those squares wrong!

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  2. Bryan Lee Williams

    He did not make the squares wrong. He made an experiment that doesn’t mean anything.
    Because the triangle is not translucent, you don’t see the fluid behind it which it obviously is.
    The area of the fluid for this experiment to be able to cover both the a^2 and b^2 areas is actually
    a^2 + b^2 plus ab/2.
    So when filling the c^2 area, there is ab/2 fliud left over.

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  3. Not quite, in the second picture, the water levels don’t add up, so they can’t be connected.
    It’s more likely that they messed up when building that thing, like having the big square be slightly thinner than the other two.yyy

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  4. It almost adds up. He probably has a pivot through the centerpiece behind the triangle.

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  5. The depth isn’t constant, thus this experiment is rigged.
    You can see this easily in the second image, the b square is much thinner in volume than the a square. (Most likely, the a is thicker than either of the other two.)
    Look at the bubbles. In a there is some depth as the water surrounds the bubble. But in b, there is no visible depth because the container is so thin the bubble takes the entire depth.
    Also, look at the discharge in the c tank. There is a much more violent stream into the side from the a in relation to the b, indicating a higher PSI, which means there is more depth in a.

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  6. You are all a litle bit wrong and maybe a little bit right – the problem is; you don’t understand the theorem – The square of the hypotenuse, etc is the AREA, not the VOLUME!!!!!!!!!! As soon as you add thickness you must adjust the theorem to the VOLUME on the hyp. is equal to the sum of the VOLUMES of the other 2 sides (and Pytagoras did say that, as well!!!!)

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  7. Dave, you are correct.
    Also, nice scarf on that guy. Where can I buy one?

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  8. Dave, settle down. We’ll do it by volume if you like:
    h_1*a^2 + h_2*b^2 = h_3*c^2
    Assuming the depths (h) are equal, the above expression simplifies to the Pythagorean Theorem we know and love. The trouble is, they don’t, so we can’t.

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  9. The thing is right – nobody before ever checked this and the world is now a very different place! Pythag was an A/hole.

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