The lengths of the legs of a right triangle are 8 inches and twelve inches. What is the exact length of the hypotenuse?

Question

johnweldon1993 · Answer

Remember that for a right triangle you can use Pythagoreas theorem! 

It states that the sum of both legs squared = the hypotenuse squared....written in an equation looks like

$$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$

You have the 2 legs....8 and 12.....and you want to solve for the hypotenuse....so you plug in these numbers

$$8^2 + 12^2 = c^2$$

or to find the exact length you do

$$c= \sqrt{8^2 + 12^2}$$

what do you get?