Difference of Two Squares - Geometrical Demonstrations

Geometrical Demonstrations

The difference of two squares can also be illustrated geometrically as the difference of two square areas in a plane. In the diagram, the shaded part represents the difference between the areas of the two squares, i.e. . The area of the shaded part can be found by adding the areas of the two rectangles;, which can be factorized to . Therefore

Another geometric proof proceeds as follows: We start with the figure shown in the first diagram below, a large square with a smaller square removed from it. The side of the entire square is a, and the side of the small removed square is b. The area of the shaded region is . A cut is made, splitting the region into two rectangular pieces, as shown in the second diagram. The larger piece, at the top, has width a and height a-b. The smaller piece, at the bottom, has width a-b and height b. Now the smaller piece can be detached, rotated, and placed to the right of the larger piece. In this new arrangement, shown in the last diagram below, the two pieces together form a rectangle, whose width is and whose height is . This rectangle's area is . Since this rectangle came from rearranging the original figure, it must have the same area as the original figure. Therefore, .Any odd number can be expressed as difference of two squares.