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The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 65 inches long. One leg is 3 inches shorter than the other. Find the lengths of the legs of the triangle.

User Lakerz
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The length of the longer leg is 35 inches.

Let x be the length of the shorter leg. Then the length of the longer leg is x + 3. We can use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for x:

x^2 + (x + 3)^2 = 65^2

Expanding the left side of the equation, we get:

x^2 + x^2 + 6x + 9 = 4225

Combining like terms, we get:

2x^2 + 6x - 4216 = 0

Factoring the expression, we get:

(2x - 64)(x + 66) = 0

Therefore, x = 32 or x = -66. Since the length of a leg cannot be negative, we know that the length of the shorter leg is 32 inches and the length of the longer leg is 32 + 3 = 35 inches.

User NOSAE
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