Question

Find the length of the hypotenuse, side c, of a right triangle with legs of length a = b and b = 12.

Answer 1

c =6√5 or 13.42 (rounded off to the nearest hundredth)

1) Gathering the data

a=6 and b=12

2) Since this is a right triangle, then we can write the Pythagorean Theorem

hypotenuse² = leg² + leg²

c² = 6² +12²

c² = 36 +144

c² = 180 Take the square root on both sides

√c²=√180

c =6√5