Question

The length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is 145 units. The length of one leg of the triangle is 144. Mike wrote the following step to find the length of the unknown leg: Length of the unknown leg = 1452 − 1442 = 21,025 − 20,736 = 289 units Which statement best explains whether Mike's step is correct or incorrect?

Answer 1

Hi Vance :)

a=leg unknow
b=leg
c=hypotenuse

a²+b²=c²
a²=c²-b²
a²=145² - 144²
a²=21,025 - 20,736
a²=289
a=√289
a=17

unknow leg = 17 units

Answer 2

incorrect

Explanation:

It is incorrect because the length of the unknown side is the square root of 289.