Question

A right triangle has a hypotenuse of 25 feet and a leg of 7 feet. Which of these is the length of the other leg?
12 feet
15 feet
21 feet
24 feet

Answer 1

Lets solve for that other side. Since this is a right triangle we can use the Pythagorean Theorem.

\[\large a^2 + b^2 = c^2\]

where c = hypotenuse of the triangle and a, b are the other 2 legs...

We have the hypotenuse...and let say we have 'a'....so we need to rearrange his equation to solve for 'b'

\[\large b^2 = c^2 - a^2\]

Well we want 'b' not b^2...so take the square root of both sides

\[\large b = \sqrt{c^2 - a^2}\]

Now plug in your 25 for 'c' and 7 for 'a' and you can solve for 'b'

Answer 2

D