Question

If the hypotenuse is 41 inches and one of the legs is 40 inches, what is the length of the other leg in inches?

Answer 1

The length of the other leg is `9` inches

Explanation:

As this is a right angle (use of word hypotenuse means opposite angle is right angle), you can use the Pythagorean theorem. This states that
`x^2+y^2=r^2`, or leg 1 squared plus leg 2 squared equals the hypotenuse squared.

So, all you need to do is plug in your known numbers and solve for the unknown variable.

`40^2+y^2=41^2`
`1600+y^2=1681`
`y^2=81`
`y=sqrt81`
`y=9`
So, the length of the missing leg is 9 inches.

(y cannot be negative 9 because you cannot have a triangle with a negative side!)