Question

Cade and Tyce both tried to find the missing side of the right triangle.

A right triangle is shown. The legs are labeled 6 and 9. A right angle is labeled in between them.

Cade's Work Tyce's Work
a2 + b2 = c2 a2 + b2 = c2
62 + b2 = 92 62 + 92 = c2
36 + b2 = 81 36 + 81 = c2
b2 = 45 117 = c2
√b2 = √45 √117 = √c2
b ≈ 6.71 10.82 ≈ c

Is either of them correct? Explain reasoning

Answer 1

a2+b2=c2
36+81=c2
V117
10.8=C

Answer 2

Cade is not right because in his second step he did 6^2 + b^2 = 9^2. In this problem, you are trying to find the hypotenuse, which is c^2. B^2 is the other leg, but this problem has given the lengths of both the legs. If he did it correct the second step would look like 6^2 + 9^2 = c^2.

Tyce is right since he followed all the steps and did the math correctly :)

Explanation: