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The hypotenuse of a right triangle is on the line y = 3x + 2. The shorter leg of

the triangle is parallel to the x-axis and is 3 units long. Find the perimeter of the
triangle.

1 Answer

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Answer:

The perimeter of the triangle is 30.5.

Explanation:

To find the perimeter of the triangle, we need to find the length of the other leg.

We can use the equation of the line that defines the hypotenuse, y = 3x + 2, to find the coordinate of the endpoint of the shorter leg. The endpoint has x-coordinate equal to 3 (since the length of the leg is 3), and the y-coordinate can be found by substituting x = 3 into the equation:

y = 3x + 2

y = 3 * 3 + 2

y = 11

So the endpoint of the shorter leg is (3, 11).

Next, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the other leg:

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

where a is the length of the shorter leg (which we know is 3), b is the length of the other leg, and c is the length of the hypotenuse (which is also on the line y = 3x + 2).

We can use the coordinates of the endpoint of the shorter leg to find the length of the hypotenuse:

c = √((3 - 0)^2 + (11 - 2)^2)

c = √(3^2 + 9^2)

c = √(9 + 81)

c = √90

So the length of the hypotenuse is √90.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can now find the length of the other leg:

3^2 + b^2 = (√90)^2

9 + b^2 = 90

b^2 = 81

b = 9

So the length of the other leg is 9.

Finally, the perimeter of the triangle is 3 + 9 + √90, which is approximately 12 + 9 + 9.5 = 30.5.

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