Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle measures 15 cm and one of its legs measures 13 cm. Find the measure of the other leg. If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

other leg ≈ 7.5 cm

Explanation:

using Pythagoras' identity in the right triangle

the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other 2 sides.

let x represent the other leg , then

x² + 13² = 15²

x² + 169 = 225 ( subtract 169 from both sides )

x² = 56 ( take square root of both sides )

x =
`√(56)` ≈ 7.5 cm ( to the nearest tenth )