Square of Hypotenuse of Pythagorean Triangle is Difference of two Cubes/Historical Note

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Historical Note on Square of Hypotenuse of Pythagorean Triangle is Difference of two Cubes

The statement:

The square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is also the difference of $2$ cubes; thus, $13^2 = 8^3 - 7^3$.

appears in the $1997$ edition of Curious and Interesting Numbers, 2nd ed. by David Wells.

There is no record of where he may have found this statement, but it is demonstrably false.


Sources