Using the Pythagorean Theorem, how do you find the length of a leg of a right triangle if the other leg is 8 feet long and the hypotenuse is 10 feet long?

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Using the Pythagorean Theorem, how do you find the length of a leg of a right triangle if the other leg is 8 feet long and the hypotenuse is 10 feet long?

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Answer 1 · 2016-03-07T05:41:35

The other leg is $6$ $6$ feet long.

Explanation:

Pythagorean Theorem tells that in a right angled triangle, sum of the squares of two perpendicular lines is equal to the square of hypotenuse.

In the given problem, one leg of a right triangle is $8$ $8$ feet long and the hypotenuse is $10$ $10$ feet long,. Let the other leg be $x$ $x$ , then under the theorem

$x^{2} + 8^{2} = 10^{2}$ $x^2+8^2=10^2$ or $x^{2} + 64 = 100$ $x^2+64=100$ or $x^{2} = 100 - 64 = 36$ $x^2=100-64=36$ i.e.

$x = \pm 6$ $x=+-6$ , but as $- 6$ $-6$ is not permissible, $x = 6$ $x=6$ i.e.

The other leg is $6$ $6$ feet long.

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Using the Pythagorean Theorem, how do you find the length of a leg of a right triangle if the other leg is 8 feet long and the hypotenuse is 10 feet long?

1 Answer

Explanation:

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