How do you find the missing side of each right triangle. Side c is the hypotenuse and Sides a and b are the legs, a=11m, c=15m?

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Answer 1 · 2016-11-17T10:33:17

The missing side has a length of 10.2m rounded to the nearest 10th.

The Pythagorean Theorem states for a right triangle as given:

$a^{2} + b^{2} = c^{2}$ $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$ where $a$ $a$ and $b$ $b$ are the sides and $c$ $c$ is the hypotenuse.

In this problem $a$ $a$ and $c$ $c$ have been provided so we can substitute for these and solve for $b$ $b$ while keeping the equation balanced:

$11^{2} + b^{2} = 15^{2}$ $11^2 + b^2 = 15^2$

$121 + b^{2} = 225$ $121 + b^2 = 225$

$121 + b^{2} - 121 = 225 - 121$ $121 + b^2 - 121 = 225 - 121$

$b^{2} = 104$ $b^2 = 104$

$\sqrt{b^{2}} = \sqrt{104}$ $sqrt(b^2) = sqrt(104)$

$b = 10.2$ $b = 10.2$ rounded to the nearest 10th.