What is the length, in units, of the hypotenuse of a right triangle if each of the two legs is 2 units?

Question

4681 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-11-25T12:54:30

The hypotenuse is #sqrt(8)# units or 2.828 units rounded to the nearest thousandth.

The formula for a the relationship between the sides of a right triangle is:

#a^2 + b^2 = c^2# where the #c# is the hypotenuse and #a# and #b# are the legs of the triangle forming the right angle.

We are given #a# and #b# equal to 2 so we can substitute this into the formula and solve for #c#, the hypotenuse:

#2^2 + 2^2 = c^2#

#4 + 4 = c^2#

#8 = c^2#

#sqrt(8) = sqrt(c^2)#

#c = sqrt(8) = 2.828#