Question

Sketch the right triangle and find the length of the side not given if necessary approximate the link to the nearest thousandth.

Answer 1

The Pythagorean's Theorem

In a right triangle, the two legs and the hypotenuse are related with the formula:

`c^2=a^2+b^2`

Where c is the hypotenuse and a and b are the legs.

We are given the length of one leg, say a = 9, and the length of the hypotenuse c = 14. We need to solve the equation for b as follows:

`b=\sqrt[]{c^2-a^2}`

Substituting:

`\begin{gathered} b=\sqrt[]{14^2-9^2} \\ b=\sqrt[]{196-81} \\ b=\sqrt[]{115} \end{gathered}`

Approximating to three decimals places:

b = 10.724