Inverse Pythagorean theorem

The area of triangle ABC can be expressed in terms of either AC and BC, or AB and CD:

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\tfrac {1}{2}}AC\cdot BC&={\tfrac {1}{2}}AB\cdot CD\\(AC\cdot BC)^{2}&=(AB\cdot CD)^{2}\\{\frac {1}{CD^{2}}}&={\frac {AB^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}\end{aligned}}}$

given CD > 0, AC > 0 and BC > 0.

Using the Pythagorean theorem,

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\frac {1}{CD^{2}}}&={\frac {BC^{2}+AC^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}\\&={\frac {BC^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}+{\frac {AC^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}\\\quad \therefore \;\;{\frac {1}{CD^{2}}}&={\frac {1}{AC^{2}}}+{\frac {1}{BC^{2}}}\end{aligned}}}$

as above.

The cruciform curve or cross curve is a quartic plane curve given by the equation

${\displaystyle x^{2}y^{2}-b^{2}x^{2}-a^{2}y^{2}=0}$

where the two parameters determining the shape of the curve, a and b are each CD.

Substituting x with AC and y with BC gives

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}AC^{2}BC^{2}-CD^{2}AC^{2}-CD^{2}BC^{2}&=0\\AC^{2}BC^{2}&=CD^{2}BC^{2}+CD^{2}AC^{2}\\{\frac {1}{CD^{2}}}&={\frac {BC^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}+{\frac {AC^{2}}{AC^{2}\cdot BC^{2}}}\\\therefore \;\;{\frac {1}{CD^{2}}}&={\frac {1}{AC^{2}}}+{\frac {1}{BC^{2}}}\end{aligned}}}$

Inverse-Pythagorean triples can be generated using integer parameters t and u as follows.[2]

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}AC&=(t^{2}+u^{2})(t^{2}-u^{2})\\BC&=2tu(t^{2}+u^{2})\\CD&=2tu(t^{2}-u^{2})\end{aligned}}}$

If two identical lamps are placed at A and B, the theorem and the inverse-square law imply that the amount of light received at C is the same as when a single lamp is placed at D.

• Pythagorean theorem – Relation between sides of a right triangle