Mathematical Me!

[capnzebbie]

This evening, I discovered that I know the Pythagorean Theorem. I had no idea!

One of my co-workers is studying for the math part of the teacher's test. She asked me if I knew the Pythagorean Theorem. I said, "Sorry, math is just not my thing."

She said, "Well, I know this is the hypotenuse..." and into my head and out my mouth popped, "The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides. Whoa! Where did THAT come from?"

So I was thinking, and I realized that I had heard it in a movie, but I couldn't remember which one. I thought maybe Real Genius, that Val Kilmer movie with all the popcorn (fun movie, btw), but that didn't seem quite right.

Finally, on the way home it came to me: The Wizard of Oz! I laughed out loud when I realized it. It's the scene near the end where the wizard gives The Scarecrow his diploma. The Scarecrow puts his index finger to his temple and says, "The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides." And then he looks as astonished as I probably did.

So, either I've known the Pythagorean Theorem since I was five years old, or I know it because I have a diploma.

Comments

[dominik.livejournal.com]

Great story! Happens to me all the time as well - remembering something because of a movie. And they say your TV doesn't educate you! Pah! ;)

[capnzebbie.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It cracked me up. I also learned Einstein's equation when I was in the third grade from reading A Wrinkle in Time. I'm not sure if I ever learned much in my actual math classes. :)