How do you use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing side of the right triangle with the given measures: A= 15, B= 20?

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How do you use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing side of the right triangle with the given measures: A= 15, B= 20?

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Answer 1 · 2016-02-28T21:50:21

$c = 25$ $c=25$

Explanation:

If we know that $a^{2} + b^{2} = c^{2}$ $a^2+b^2=c^2$ , and we are given that $a = 15$ $a=15$ and that $b = 20$ $b=20$ , then we can solve for $c$ $c$ .

Let's do that: $15^{2} + 20^{2} = c^{2}$ $15^2+20^2=c^2$ , which we can rewrite as $225 + 400 = c^{2}$ $225+400=c^2$ . This can be simplified to $625 = c^{2}$ $625=c^2$ , and to solve for $c$ $c$ , we just need to get rid of the square. To do that, we just square root both sides, like this: $\sqrt{625} = \sqrt{c^{2}}$ $sqrt(625)=sqrt(c^2)$ . This gives us $25 = c$ $25=c$ . Nice job!

Answer 2 · 2016-02-28T22:33:20

$C = 25$ $C=25$ (see other answers for this)
or
$C = 5 \sqrt{7}$ $C=5sqrt(7)$

Explanation:

Since we were not told that the missing side is the hypotenuse an alternate possibility exists from those given previously.

$C = \sqrt{20^{2} - 15^{2}} = \sqrt{175} = 5 \sqrt{7}$ $C=sqrt(20^2-15^2) = sqrt(175) = 5sqrt(7)$

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How do you use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing side of the right triangle with the given measures: A= 15, B= 20?

2 Answers

Explanation:

Explanation:

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