Pythagorean Theorem - Proof Without Words

Carving Four Triangles

Cut the square on the left so that four of the pieces are identical to our original triangle.

We see that there is plenty of room for this because we made each side of the square to have length a + b.

The two squares still have the same area because we have not changed the area of the square on the left.

What do you think is the shape in the middle of the left square?