Question

The leg of a right triangle is 5 feet and the hypotenuse is 10 feet. What is the length of the missing side round

answer to the nearest 10th.

Answer 1

the missing side ≈ 8.7 feet

Explanation:

using Pythagoras' identity in the right triangle

a² + b² = c²

a, b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse

given a = 5 and c = 10 , then b is the missing side , so

5² + b² = 10²

25 + b² = 100 ( subtract 25 from both sides )

b² = 75 ( take square root of both sides )

`√(b^2)` =
`√(75)` , that is

b ≈ 8.7 ( to the nearest tenth )

The missing side is then ≈ 8.7 feet