A 25-inch television has a screen that is 15 inches high. How wide is the screen?

Question

ddcamp · Answer

Television screen sizes are the lengths of the diagonals. If the screen is 15 inches high and it's a 25-inch telivision, we have something like this:
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anonymous · Answer

I honestly forgot what to do next lol?

ddcamp · Answer

You know the Pythagorean theorem?

anonymous · Answer

a^2 + b^2=c^2?

ddcamp · Answer

Yup. Since the tv is a rectangle, the diagonal forms a right triangle.
If c=25 and a=15, can you solve for b?
15²+b²=25²

anonymous · Answer

okay, I am going to solve it real quick. Let me know if I am wrong.

anonymous · Answer

I got 20

ddcamp · Answer

Yup, that's right

trantom · Answer

It should be 20, because yea.

trantom · Answer

xD

anonymous · Answer

lol @ trantom

anonymous · Answer

Idk how I forgot how to do this...

ddcamp · Answer

One thing you'll notice is that there are common patterns in right triangles.

This is a 3-4-5 right triangle, because the ratios of the sides are 3:4:5

anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much though!

trantom · Answer

The pythagorean therom was one of the first things I learned in algebra. I learned it before probablility :P

trantom · Answer

*probability

anonymous · Answer

same, I just suck at remembering that solution..