Pythagoras' Theory Calculations made EASY

As mentioned in another post, when using and building with triangles or 3 sided prims etc in SL you will need to know Pythagoras' Theory, this is important when you have tapered a cube and need to know the size of side C.

This link is great for ease of use and speed, just enter the sizes of 2 sides A and B to find the length of side C.

http://jumk.de/pythagoras/pythagoras.shtml

do geodsics generally use right triangles? I know they can, but in practice do they? (ok granted any trangle can be broken down to 2 right trangles) I couldn't find anything that specifically said and I do know some that use equalateral triangles(the strongest from a single geometric standpoint, but not necessarily the best from a structural standpoint when tessellated in 3d).

just curious as these were favorite subjects back in school (geometry, topology, tessellation expecial in conjunction with fractals)

Void,

Accordinging to this link a geodesic Dome does not have equalateral triangles.

http://architecture.about.com/library/ucdome.htm

If what you want is the hypoteneuse, just us llVecMag(v) where v is a vector whose x, y, and z components are the 3 axis distances. If it is a plane triangle just use x and y and leave z = 0.0.

For example for a plane triangle with sides 3.0 and 4.0 use:

float hypot = llVecMag(<3.0, 4.0, 0.0>;

I did say some... if you've ever seen a 12sided die, they are built from regular pentagons, which can be filled using a similar technique to whats described in the link, (actually a regular hexagon with creases along the triangular edges joined eliminating one of the triangles) which would be a build of equilateral triangles) which would make a bumpy sphere (I'm guessing disney's epcott uses a similar method of a bumpy sphere)... smooth spheres are a different story but the main point being that there's probably a better way tha using right triangles (which would still seem to require 2 calculations perface)

I built a geodesic dome a long time ago in SL. I looked up the types of geodesic domes online and looked at the calculations for the sides and then actually... my math professors would be proud... used the Pythagorean Formula to generate the proper sides and building the thing. I'm afraid I do not have it any longer nor the notes but thought I would share that you can certainly make massive geodesic domes in SL if you use the formula and angle the sides up properly to make the apex work right.