Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle measures 20 cm and one of its legs measures 7 cm. Find the measure of the other leg. If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

19

Explanation:

The square value of the measure of hypotenuse is equal to the square measure of sum of two legs.

Let x represent the missing leg:

`{20}^(2) = {7}^(2) + {x}^(2)`

400 = 49 + x^2 subtract 49 from both sides

351 = x^2 find the root for both sides

The root of 351 is between 18 and 19 but it is closer to 19 since 19×19 = 361 and since we are asked to round to the nearest tenth the answer is 19.