This is an animation of the first [i]Proof Without Words[/i] ever to appear in the Mathematical Association of America's [i]Mathematics Magazine[/i]. The official citation is Isaacs, Rufus, "Two Mathematical Papers without Words", [i]Mathematics Magazine[/i], Vol. 48, No. 4 (Sep., 1975), p. 198.

Some exercises for students:[br][br][list][br][*] State the Pythagorean Theorem.[br][br][*] Explain the construction of the diagram and how the animation proves the theorem. [br][br][*] How general is this? Is it a convincing proof? [br][br][*] How do you know that the quadrilateral with side length [math]c[/math] at the end of the animation is a square?[br][br][*] Explain the importance of translations in this "proof".[br][br][/list]