Question

What is the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle if the two other sides are of lengths 2 and 6?

Answer 1

`2sqrt(10)`

Explanation:

By the Pythagorean Theorem
if `a, b, c` are three sides of a right triangle with side `c` being the hypotenuse, then
`color(white)("XXX")c^2=a^2+b^2`
or
`color(white)("XXX")c=sqrt(a^2+b^2)`

Allowing `a=2` and `b=6` (the given example values)
`color(white)("XXX")c=sqrt(2^2+6^2)`

`color(white)("XXXX")=sqrt(40)`

`color(white)("XXXX")=2sqrt(10)`