Question

if i know the lengths of two sides of a right triangle, how do i find the third?

Answer 1

180 - tha sum of the two lengths

Answer 2

so how do i find

Answer 3

e third side ?

Answer 4

*the third side

Answer 5

pythagoras' theorem.

Answer 6

can you do an example?

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras%27_theorem

Answer 8

ex. u have 24 degrees and 50 degrees, add them. so 74 is the answer.. subtract 74 from 180.

Answer 9

thank you!!

Answer 10

derek, what you're saying is completely wrong...

Answer 11

.. crap. then how do you do it?

Answer 12

well for starters you don't pick out random numbers like derek has done, given that you've said nothing about the triangle except that it has a right angle.

Answer 13

how do i find the third side of a right triangle?

Answer 14

nope. 180 is for the internal sum of a triangle. so we subtract the sum of the two sides

Answer 15

go to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras%27_theorem

read the line which says that a^2 + b^2 = c^2. Look at the image of the triangle on the right where it marks which sides are a, b, and c. You know two of those side lengths. Now you can rearrange it to get the third. Use square root and whatever else.

Answer 16

180 degrees is the sum of the angles of a triangle. bfowler wants to know the third length of a triangle, given two lengths.

Answer 17

yup, i know. that's why we subtracted the sum of the two sides.

Answer 18

derek, the things you are saying are complete gibberish. Hopefully you know that and are just trolling. You know you can't determine the two other angles of a triangle given only one angle, right? You can say what they sum to, but you can't say "oh yeah the sum is 74, so subtract 74 from 180" like you did up there. That's complete nonsense that you've pulled from nowhere.

Answer 19

do you mind helping me out? i used the numbers 7 and 10. 7 is a and 10 is b. i squared them and got 49 and 100. no i have 49+100= c sq

Answer 20

i am very sure of my answer,, anyways, it's up to her to decide. Peace!!! besides it's very late

Answer 21

what do i do now

Answer 22

so c^2 = a^2 + b^2 = 49 + 100 = 149.

Take the square root of both sides. So c = sqrt(149)

Answer 23

22201??

Answer 24

i did 149 and then sq it

Answer 25

Derek I see you were just stating an example where you could calculate the other angle if you knew two of them. That would be right if the question was to find the third angle, but it's to find the uknown third length.

Answer 26

flutter,, the hell, that's not geometry. xD

Answer 27

hahaha,, can't type f*ck?? turns to flutter, hahah??

Answer 28

sqrt means to take the square root. You want to find a number x so that x * x = 149. It'll be a little larger than 12 since 12*12 = 144. Type sqrt(149) into google or something to see what it is.

Answer 29

See
http://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/ck12-algebra-1/v/pythagorean-theorem

a short helpful video

Answer 30

it says 22201.. now what

Answer 31

You're squaring it, but you need the square root.

Answer 32

The square root should be smaller than 149

Answer 33

12.20655562

Answer 34

correct.

Answer 35

Correct, so that is the length of your third side:)

Answer 36

now what

Answer 37

so thats the answer

Answer 38

Yep :)

Answer 39

should you round it??

Answer 40

sqrt(149) is an irrational number. It has an infinite number of decimal places. You can't avoid it.

Answer 41

thank you guys so much.