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A right triangle has a leg length of √8 and a hypotenuse length of 5. Determine the length of the other leg of the right triangle

User Rendel
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Answer is

.

Let the length of the other leg be x. According to the Pythagorean theorem the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two legs of a right triangle equals the square of the length of the hypotenuse.

Therefore we have the equation:

√8^2 + x^2 =5^2

Simplifying this equation we get:

8 + x^2 = 25

Subtracting 8 from both sides we get:

x^2 = 17

Taking the square root of both sides we find:

x = √17

So the length of the other leg of the right triangle is √17.

User Kamaradclimber
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