#why does the pythagorean identity work for any triangle?

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rigid thicket
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I thought the Pythagorean identity "sin2+cos2=1 was derived inside the unit circle when the hypotenuse of the triangle was one. So why does this formula work outside of the unit circle where hypotenuse isn't always 1?

marsh quartzBOT
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severe eagle
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Rsin²x + Rcos²x = R²

rigid thicket
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Oh so you can factor out an R and then divide on that on the right side so then You can have sin²x + cos²x = R which is similar to the identity?

severe eagle
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Yeah sin²x + cos²x = 1

rigid thicket
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