Question

One of the legs of a right triangle measures 2 cm and its hypotenuse measures 4 cm. Find the measure of the other leg. If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

Answer: 3.5

Explanation:

To find the length of the missing leg, we need to use the Pythagorean Theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2 where c is the hypotenuse)

1) Plug in numbers

2^2 + b^2 = 4^2

2) Square

4 + b^2 = 16

3) Flip Equation and Subtract

16 - 4 = b^2

16 - 4 = 12

4) Square Root of 12

The square root of 12 is ~3.46, so you need to round to the nearest tenth, which is 3.5