Question

In a video game, Shar has to build a pen shaped like a right triangle for her animals. If she needs 8 feet of fence for the shortest side and 10 feet of fence for the longest side, how many feet of fencing is needed for the entire animal pen?

Answer 1

24

Explanation:

Answer 2

To find out how much fencing Shar needs in total, you need to find the length of the remaining side of the triangle. You can use the Pythagorean Theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

Using this formula, you can solve for the length of the remaining side:

a² + b² = c²
8² + b² = 10²
64 + b² = 100
b² = 36
b = 6

So the length of the remaining side is 6 feet. To find the total amount of fencing needed, you just add up the lengths of all three sides:

8 + 6 + 10 = 24

So Shar needs 24 feet of fencing in total.