squares of the legs is the square of the hypotenuse.

The Pythagorean theorem says that in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the two legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. For example, if the legs have lengths 3 and 4, then 3² + 4² = 9 + 16 = 25 = 5². So the correct choice is “equal to.”

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.