Proposition·Untested·2605.00009

Proposition II.4

If a straight line be cut at random, the square on the whole is equal to the squares on the segments and twice the rectangle contained by the segments.

Proof

Let the straight line be cut at random at . Describe on the square (I.46), and draw the diagonal . Through draw parallel to either or (I.31), meeting at and at . Through draw parallel to either or (I.31), meeting at and at . Since is parallel to and falls on them, the exterior angle equals the interior and opposite (I.29). But since (I.5 applied to the isoceles right triangle inside the square). Hence , so (I.6), and therefore is equilateral. Since it has a right angle at , it is a square on (Definition I.22). By the same reasoning is the square on . The complements and in the square are equal rectangles by I.43; each is contained by and (since , , etc.), so each is the rectangle on , . The four pieces sum to the whole (Common Notion 2): \[ AB^2 \;=\; AC^2 + CB^2 + 2\cdot(AC\cdot CB), \] which is in geometric form.

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