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Pythagoras of Samos, was a Greek philosopher and religious leader who was responsible for important developments in the history of maths, astronomy, and the theory of music. Pythagoras was interested in triangles with a right angle - an angle of 90 degrees making a square corner. Pythagoras called the side opposite the right angle the "hypotenuse". This is the side which you bite into first when you hold a triangular sandwich by the two corners which are not right angles. |
| Many shops sell sandwiches in plastic cases which have to fit the triangular sandwiches. Pythagoras' theorem (see below) can be used to work out the length of the diagonal side (the hypotenuse). This means that the plastic case can be designed to the correct proportions. |  |