OpenStudy (anonymous):

Help??

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

that's a 30 60 90 triangle, so the hypotenuse should be 15in it's a 3:4:5 ratio..... 9:12:15

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

@robz8 so what would the answer be?

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

15?

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

he's suggesting the pythagorean triples http://www.tsm-resources.com/alists/trip.html

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

@nincompoop oohhh.. do you know the answer to this though?

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

if you're in doubt, you can always plug the values in and solve for c $c = \sqrt{a^2+b^2}$|dw:1370130283976:dw|

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

@nincompoop im a bit confused on that

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

do you know how to multiply, square, add and obtain square root?

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

@nincompoop can you just walk me through it to getting the answer?

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

ya sure why not...

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

there are different types of triangles and the triangle you are presented in the problem is a right triangle. we can identify a right triangle if one of the sides is 90° and that is usually indicated by ⃞ in one of the corners. Identifying that it is a right triangle, to solve for the length of sides, we can borrow the lecture made by an Ionian Greek mathematician named Pythagoras - called the Pythagorean Theorem. |dw:1370131007714:dw| According to the theory that, in a right triangle, the length of side c can be solved when given by other two sides, a and b by the formula: $c= \sqrt{a^2+b^2}$ this means that we need to square a and then b individually, then add them together, after that is done, we obtain the square root. $c = \sqrt{(9^2+12^2)}= \sqrt{81+144}=\sqrt{225}=\pm15$ that means that the values are -15 and +15, but since we are looking for a length of a side, it cannot be the -15. there's no such a thing as -15 inches so we will use +15. so pay attention carefully when @rob8 mentioned about 3:4:5 ratio. he meant to tell you about the pythagorean tripes. memorizing the common ones saved you a bit of time instead of going through the tedious problem solving. these values have been worked out and are used regularly in problem examples.

5 years ago
OpenStudy (nincompoop):

correction: instead of pythagorean tripes, I meant to type Pythagorean triples

5 years ago
OpenStudy (anonymous):

@nincompoop ohhhh

5 years ago