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10 votes
10 votes
Plz help, in the figure to find the length RU if applicable, round your answer to the nearest whole number.

The lengths on the figure are not drawn accurately.

Plz help, in the figure to find the length RU if applicable, round your answer to-example-1
User DAB
by
2.6k points

2 Answers

6 votes
6 votes

Explanation:

it is not clear, if RT = 20 or UT = 20.

both are possible scenarios.

I assume that RT = 20 (otherwise the sub-triangle RSU is not sufficiently defined, as R could be moved outward to the left it further inward to the right, and the rest of the triangle is unchanged).

for any triangle with sides a, b, c and semiperimeter

s = (a + b + c) / 2, the height to side a is

ha = 2×sqrt(s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c))/a

in our case here

s = (20+25+17)/2 = 62/2 = 31

hRT = SU = 2×sqrt(31×(31-20)(31-25)(31-17))/20 =

= sqrt(31×11×6×14)/10 = sqrt(28,644.)/10 =

= 16.9245384...

RU² = 17² -SU² = 289 - 286.44 = 2.56

RU = 1.6 ≈ 2

User Ryfterek
by
2.9k points
25 votes
25 votes

Answer:

RU = 8 units

Explanation:

See attachment

The larger triangle is broken into 2 smaller right triangles in steps 1 and 2. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the two sides, x and y. y is RU, and is equal to 8 units.

Plz help, in the figure to find the length RU if applicable, round your answer to-example-1
User Charles Grunwald
by
3.1k points