Did you know that October 24th, 2026, is a very special day for us math lovers? Writing the date as 10/24/26, the date creates the following Pythagorean triple:

10² + 24² = 26²

Making it a Pythagorean Theorem Day! In fact, it is the very last one of the century (the next being in 2105). Over the years, our Maple community has been exploring some incredibly interesting ways of visualizing, proving, and applying one of math's most famous theorems!

To celebrate this great day, I thought we could revisit some of our coolest posts on the topic.

Since we are celebrating a pythagorean triple day, the Maple Learn post on Generating Pythagorean Triples is a great way to explore the theorem. Any three positive integers that satisfy the pythagorean formula are considered one of these triples (the most popular being 3, 4, and 5). The generation of these values can be looked at from both a geometric and algebraic perspective!

One of the coolest things about the Pythagorean Theorem is that we are still discovering new ways to prove it! Traditionally, a geometric method was used to prove the theorem, as can be seen in this Maple Learn post. But in only 2023 two high school students, Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson, presented a new trigonometric proof for the Pythagorean Theorem. 

This was incredible since most trigonometric proofs are based upon the theorem itself, so being able to prove it without these was very impressive! You can explore their approach in Johnson and Jackson's Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem, or read more about it in the MaplePrimes post New Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.

This even inspired some mathematical artwork in Maplesoft's art competition, Paige Stone created an embroidery piece Infinite Similar Triangles based on the Johnson-Jackson triangle construction. What a fun reminder that math is just as creative as it is logical!

The Pythagorean Theorem is mostly thought of as a right triangle problem, but it is so much more than that!

Consider the Staircase Paradox. If you keep decreasing the size of steps to a staircase, the shape begins to look like a straight diagonal, but the length does not approach the length of that diagonal! The Pythagorean Theorem helped us uncover the surprising behavior behind these limits. 

Another interesting application is in Finding the Shortest Path Between Two Points, where the theorem can be applied to arc length calculations. This theorem can show up in some unexpected places! Below is an example of some curves the Pythagorean theorem can be used to calculate!

From geometry, to algebraic and trigonometric proofs, mathematical art or simply a good paradox, the Pythagorean Theorem can be explored endlessly. Do you have a favorite proof, application, or derivation from the Pythagorean Theorem? Try to appreciate it a little more on this day, since we won't have another for a while!

I’m thrilled to introduce the updated Q&A Cards Creator! Michael Barnett had created the original Flash Cards Creator, inspired by the quiz creators in the Maple Learn gallery. I added some of the features (mentioned later in this post) that will help you use this tool to make more comprehensive quizzes. Students can use the creator to quiz themselves before a test, and instructors can integrate more practice quizzes into their lesson plans. One feature I particularly love is the ability to link full solutions to the back of each card, allowing users to understand the answers in depth (as shown in this document). Additionally, you can link a general solutions package (as seen here) if individual solutions aren’t necessary for each question. Below is an example of what the Q&A cards can look like from the users point of view.
This creator is a great example of the Maple Learn documents you can create through scripting in Maple. With a single script, you can create an infinite amount of content and quizzes. If you are interested in Maple scripting, here is a link to the Q&A cards script. If this script looks intimidating, feel free to check out this blog post on the basics of Maple scripting!


If you are interested in creating your own Q&A quiz, you can go to this document to get started. If you get stuck at any point creating your card set, check out the instructions included in the document for clarification. We hope you enjoy creating some quizzes with this document!