hypotenuse

[lurkitty]

I just got a call from my mom asking, "Speak to me of the Hypotenuse". Huh? I guess she was at a youth group function and some girl was doing homework and needed to know about hypotenuses. So I said the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the remaining sides. Then I added that this was alluded to in the Gilbert and Sullivan song "Modern Major General", and that the Scarecrow actually says it at the end of Wizard of Oz when he gets his brain, but, curiously enough, neglects to mention the part about it being a right triangle. Mom was dutifully repeating all this to the young lady doing her homework.

I wonder if the kid wrote all that down. Will she get extra credit for creativity, or sent to the school counselor for evaluation?