October 1, 2009
No CommentsIntroduction to the Parallelogram Law
Description
A detailed tutorial of the parallelogram law. Step by step tutorial including several examples of the parallelogram law for reference.
Overview
The parallelogram law shows up in many forms, but the simplest form states that the sum of the squares of the lengths of the four sides of a parallelogram equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two diagonals. Assuming that a rectangle has four corners A, B, C, and D, this can be expressed as:
Typically, the two diagonals of a parallelogram are not equal in length. If they are, then the equation simplifies to the Pythagorean theorem. A more complicated version of the parallelogram law is often found when calculating vectors.
