Question

Find the length of the missing side to the nearest tenth of a unit.

The legs of the triangles are a and b and the hypotenuse is c
a=? b=12m c=15m

Answer 1

The length of the missing side of the nearest tenth unit is 9.0m.

Explanation:

Given:

The triangle hypotenuse(c) = 15m, leg 2(b) = 12m and leg 1(a) = ? .

Now, to get the missing side we put formula to find it:

Hypotenuse² = (leg 1)² + (leg 2)²

`c^(2)= a^(2) +b^(2)`

`15^(2) =a^(2) +12^(2)`

`225=a^(2)+144`

Now, subtracting both sides by 144 we get:

`225-144=a^(2)+144-144`

`81=a^(2)`

Using square root on both sides:

`9=a`

a = 9m.

The number 9 can be written in decimal form as 9.00 . As we have 0 in the hundredth place, we don't add anything to the tenth place.

Therefore, the length of the missing side of the nearest tenth unit is 9.0m.