What makes one proof different from another one?

56 Views Asked by At

There are around 370 different ways to prove the Pythagorean Theorem, but what does that exactly mean? For instance, if your proof states that $x^2+y^2=z^2$, I could construct a different one by claiming that $a^2+b^2=c^2$. On the other hand, some proofs just take a different turn or a shortcut at one step (often arguably the same), others could almost be considered corollaries of more generalised ones but, still, are considered to be disjoint.

I hope we can at least agree that changing the names of the variables of a proof wouldn't make it different, but then here goes my question: where do you draw the line? Is there some sort of equivalence relation that classifies the types of proofs or is it just something vaguely subjective, all in all?