Question

Two sides of a right triangle have lenghts of 72 cm and 97 cm.the third side is not the hypotenuse.how long is the third base?

Answer 1

Whenever someone says right triangle,
always think of
`a^(2) + b^(2) =c^(2)` first.

If the third side is not hypotenuse, it is either
`a` or
`b`, and it doesn't matter which one.

let's plug in what we have:

`72^(2) + b^(2) =97^(2)`

`b^(2) =97^(2) - 72^(2)`

`b^(2) =9409 - 5184`

`b = √(9409 - 5184)`

`b = √(4225)`

`b = 65`

Therefore, the third base is 65 cm.

Also, by the way, we know that 97cm is the hypotenus, as hypotenuse is always the longest side in right triangles.