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32 votes
The lizard is trapped in a cardboard box.  The top of the box measures 2 inches by 4 inches. What is the length of the diagonal of the top of the box. Draw a picture of the problem and solve. Round to the nearest tenth.

User Grae
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1 Answer

10 votes
10 votes

We can see that the top of the box is formed by 2 right triangles.

Since is a right triangle we can apply the Pythagorean theorem:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2

Where:

c= hypotenuse = x (the longest side)

a & b = the other 2 legs of the triangle

Replacing:

x^2 = 2^2+ 4^2

x^2 = 4 + 16

x^2 = 20

x = √20

x = 4.5 inches

The lizard is trapped in a cardboard box.  The top of the box measures 2 inches by-example-1
User Jtabuloc
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