Question

http://prntscr.com/a5ikou
I'm having a very hard time understanding the wording of what they are trying to say. Would someone explain this in different words?

Answer 1

The hypotenuse is the slanted line, the "outcast". It must be adjacent to leg.

Answer 2

@Kikuo http://www.mathwarehouse.com/geometry/similar/triangles/geometric-mean.php <--- pretty much, what a geometric mean stands for :)

Answer 3

or maybe this picture helps
notice the "blue" line

it drops down, from the vertex, down to the bottom line, and hits it at 180 degrees
thus, cutting out the original BIG triangle, into 2 smalls ones

and the two small ones, and the BIG one, are all "similar" triangles

Answer 4

This theorem is hard to follow.

The first idea you need is geometric mean
the geometric mean of two numbers A and B is
geometric mean C= \( \sqrt{A\cdot B}\)
or if we square both sides
\[ C^2= A \cdot B\]

they are saying that somehow that definition is used with the legs of the right triangle

Answer 5

@phi
@jdoe0001
Hello! I know what a geometric mean is and what a hypotenuse is. I just don't understand the colloray. The wording has me all messed up haha.

Answer 6

@Kikuo

Perhaps you could post a problem based on knowing this theorem and get a better understanding that way.

Answer 7

@Directrix
I did a practice problem and figured out what they were trying to tell me. Thanks guys!

Answer 8

Good to hear.