Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 25 cm long. One leg of the same triangle is 7 cm long. What is the length of the other leg? Explain how you found your answer.

Answer 1

24

Answer 2

why ?

Answer 3

According to the Pythagorean theorem a right-angled triangle the area of the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides - or \[a^{2}+b ^{2}=c ^{2}\]In this case: \[7^{2}+b ^{2}=25^{2}\] Which equals: \[b ^{2}= 25^{2}-7^{2}\] And leads to: \[b=\sqrt{(625-49)}\] Or: b=24