I want to build a right triangular deck behind my house. The hypotenuse of the deck will be 40 feet long. The other two sides of the deck will be equal in length. What is the length of the deck?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Use the Pythagorean theorem to solve. $$a ^{2}+b ^{2}= c ^{2}$$  You are given the value for c as 40 ft.

You are given that the sides are the same length. So a=b So substitute b for a in the Pythagorean theorem and solve for b.

So now your equation looks like this. $$b ^{2}+ b ^{2}= 40^{2}$$