In Popular Culture
The Pythagorean theorem has arisen in popular culture in a variety of ways.
- A verse of the Major-General's Song in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, "About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse", makes an oblique reference to the theorem.
- The Scarecrow in the film The Wizard of Oz makes a more specific reference to the theorem. Upon receiving his diploma from the Wizard, he immediately exhibits his "knowledge" by reciting a mangled and incorrect version of the theorem: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh, joy! Oh, rapture! I've got a brain!"
- In 2000, Uganda released a coin with the shape of an isosceles right triangle. The coin's tail has an image of Pythagoras and the equation α2 + β2 = γ2, accompanied with the mention "Pythagoras Millennium". Greece, Japan, San Marino, Sierra Leone, and Suriname have issued postage stamps depicting Pythagoras and the Pythagorean theorem.
- In Neal Stephenson's speculative fiction Anathem, the Pythagorean theorem is referred to as 'the Adrakhonic theorem'. A geometric proof of the theorem is displayed on the side of an alien ship to demonstrate the aliens' understanding of mathematics.
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