Question

Sue is planning a right triangular garden. The longest side will be 26 feet long and the shortest side will be 10 feet long. What will be the perimeter of her garden?

Answer 1

The perimeter of the garden is 60 feet.

Explanation:

We know that the Pythagorean Theorem states a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

Let a = 10 feet ( one of the legs ) and c = 26 (the hypotenuse is always the longest side of a right triangle, so it has to be 26. Then, by using the Pythagorean theorem, we can get 100 + b^2 = 676. Thus, b^2 = 576. Taking the square root of that leads us to get a value of b to be 24. Adding these three side lengths (10, 26, and 24) we get a total perimeter of 60 feet.