Question

Solve this problem?
step by step​

Answer 1

`x = √(87)`

Explanation:

So, we need to use a bit of an unorthodox method here. We will use the Pythagorean theorem to find x. We will first start by finding out what all of our sides are. In the theorem, it's
`a^(2) + b^(2) = c^(2)` . We know that the b is x, and the c is 16, but we need to know what a is. a is not 18. We need to find the distance starting at the right triangle. To do that, we must subtract 5 from 18, giving us 13. So, we have:

`13^(2) + x^(2) = 16^(2)`

Now, we will simplify the equations:

`169 + x^(2) = 256`

Then, we will subtract 169 from both sides, giving us:

`x^(2) = 87`

Square rooting both sides gives us:

`x = √(87)`

And we cannot simplify further because 87's prime factorization doesn't let it have any ways to get out of the square root.

Hope this helped