Question

One of the legs of a right triangle measures 8 cm and the other leg measures 15 cm. Find the measure of the hypotenuse. A) 289 cm B) 17 cm C) 225 cm D) 23 cm

Answer 1

When we know the lengths of 2 sides of a right triangle, we can calculate the length of the third.

In this case, we know the length of the two legs, so we can write:

`\begin{gathered} a^2+b^2=c^2 \\ 8^2+15^2=c^2 \\ 64+225=c^2 \\ c^2=289 \\ c=\sqrt[]{289} \\ c=17 \end{gathered}`

Answer: the hypotenuse length is 17 cm.