Question

Say that a and b are the lengths of the legs of a right triangle and c is the length of the hypotenuse. Find a if b = 6 and c = 10.
A) a = 8
B) a = 4
C) a = 64
D) a = 16

Answer 1

Use Pythagorean.

\(\Large \color{Black}{\Rightarrow 6^2 + b^2 = 10^2 }\)
\(\Large \color{Black}{\Rightarrow 36 + b^2 = 100 }\)
\(\Large \color{Black}{\Rightarrow b^2 = 64 }\)
\(\Large \color{Black}{\Rightarrow b = \sqrt{64} = 8 }\)

Answer 2

Then how would you do ...
Say that a and b are the lengths of the legs of a right triangle and c is the length of the hypotenuse. Find c if a = 15 and b = 20.

A) c = 13
B) c = 25
C) c = 35
D) c = 625