Question

Melissa drew a right triangle.

The perimeter of the triangle is 9+√41.
The hypotenuse is of length ✓41.
Using this information, what is the length of the other
two sides of the triangle?

Answer 1

Let's denote the two legs of the right triangle as a and b, and the hypotenuse as c. We know that c = √41, so we can use the Pythagorean theorem to relate a and b to c:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2

Substituting c = √41, we get:

(√41)^2 = a^2 + b^2

41 = a^2 + b^2

We also know that the perimeter of the triangle is:

perimeter = a + b + c = 9 + √41

Substituting c = √41, we get:

a + b + √41 = 9 + √41

a + b = 9

Now we have two equations with two unknowns (a and b):

a^2 + b^2 = 41

a + b = 9

We can solve this system of equations by substitution. Solving the second equation for a, we get:

a = 9 - b

Substituting this into the first equation, we get:

(9 - b)^2 + b^2 = 41

81 - 18b + 2b^2 = 41

2b^2 - 18b + 40 = 0

b^2 - 9b + 20 = 0

(b - 4)(b - 5) = 0

So we have two possible solutions: b = 4 and b = 5. We can find the corresponding value of a using a = 9 - b:

a = 5 and b = 4 or a = 4 and b = 5

Therefore, the two legs of the right triangle are 4 and 5.