The shorter leg of a right triangle has length 5 cm, and the longer leg has length 7 cm. How long is the hypotenuse? (Round to one decimal place.)
Applying the Pythagorean Theorem
c^2=a^2+b^2
where
c is the hypotenuse
and a and b are the legs
so
we have
a=5 cm
b=7 cm
substitute
c^2=5^2+7^2
c^2=25+49
c^2=74
square root
c=8.6
answer is
hypotenuse is 8.6 cm