Question

What is the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle if the two other sides are of lengths 12 and 3?

Answer 1

≈ 12.37

Explanation:

Since this is a right triangle use`color(blue)" Pythagoras's Theorem "`
which states ' In a right triangle , the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other 2 sides.

If h is hypotenuse and a and b , the other 2 sides we can express this as :

`h^2 = a^2 + b^2`

here let a = 12 and b = 3 then: `h^2 = 12^2 + 3^2 = 144 + 9 = 153`

`rArr h^2 = 153 rArr h = sqrt153 ≈ 12.37`