Question

The length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle is 20 centimeters. If the length of one leg is 16 centimeters, what is the length of the other leg?

Answer 1

`"12 cm"`

Explanation:

From `"Pythagoras Theorem"`

`"h"^2 = "a"^2 + "b"^2`

where

• `"h ="` Length of hypotenuse side
• `"a ="` Length of one leg
• `"b ="` Length of another leg

`("20 cm")^2 = ("16 cm")^2 + "b"^2`

`"b"^2 = ("20 cm")^2 - ("16 cm")^2`

`"b" = sqrt(("20 cm")^2 - ("16 cm")^2)`

`"b" = sqrt("400 cm"^2 - "256 cm"^2)`

`"b" = sqrt("144 cm"^2)`

`"b = 12 cm"`