Question

What happens if the answer of a squared + b squared in the Pythagorean theorem is not a perfect square? How do you solve the problem and find out C squared if the hypotenuse cannot have a radical?

Answer 1

Let's say there is a right triangle with sides 6 and 7.
We compute the 3rd side (the hypotenuse) by
hypotenuse² = 6² + 7²
hypotenuse² = 36 +49
hypotenuse² = 85
85 is NOT a perfect square so on a calculator, use the square root function to find the square root of 85 which equals
9.2195444573