Given the sample triangle below and the conditions, find the hypotenuse of the triangle

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Destinee

Mathematics

29 August, 08:28

Given the sample triangle below and the conditions, find the hypotenuse of the triangle

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Raquel Gill · Answer 1

ind the square root of c2. Use the square root function on your calculator (or your memory of the multiplication table) to find the square root of c 2. The answer is the length of your hypotenuse! In our example, c2 = 25. The square root of 25 is 5 (5 x 5 = 25, so Sqrt (25) = 5). That means c = 5, the length of our hypotenuse! The Pythagorean Theorem describes the relationship between the sides of a right triangle. It states that for any right triangle with sides of length a and b, and hypotenuse of length c, a2 + b2 = c2

Make sure that your triangle is a right triangle. The Pythagorean Theorem only works on right triangles, and by definition only right triangles can have a hypotenuse. If your triangle contains one angle that is exactly 90 degrees, it is a right triangle and you can proceed. Right angles are often notated in textbooks and on tests with a small square in the corner of the angle. This special mark means "90 degrees."

Assign variables a, b, and c to the sides of your triangle. The variable "c" will always be assigned to the hypotenuse, or longest side. Choose one of the other sides to be a, and call the other side b (it doesn't matter which is which; the math will turn out the same). Then copy the lengths of a and b into the formula, according to the following example: If your triangle has sides of 3 and 4, and you have assigned letters to those sides such that a = 3 and b = 4, then you should write your equation out as: 32 + 42 = c2.

Find the squares of a and b. To find the square of a number, you simply multiply the number by itself, so a2 = a x a. Find the squares of both a and b, and write them into your formula. If a = 3, a2 = 3 x 3, or 9. If b = 4, then b2 = 4 x 4, or 16. When you plug those values into your equation, it should now look like this: 9 + 16 = c2.

Add together the values of a2 and b2. Enter this into your equation, and this will give you the value for c 2. There is only one step left to go, and you will have that hypotenuse solved! In our example, 9 + 16 = 25, so you should write down 25 = c2.