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

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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:

$2^2 + 2^2 = c^2$

$4 + 4 = c^2$

$8 = c^2$

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

$c = sqrt(8) = 2.828$