If this triangle is a right triangle, then the Pythagorean theorem would work on it. According to the Pythagorean theorem, , so c would always be greater than a or b. In this scenario, the greatest number here is 18, so c = 18. Since a or b don't matter if given both legs, we have the following equation that may or may not be equal: . We know 8 squared is 64, and 11 squared is 121, and 18 squared is 324. This means that according to the Pythagorean theorem, and since 64 + 121 = 185, and 185 does not equal 324, the Pythagorean theorem does not work and the triangle is not a right triangle.
