173,456 views
42 votes
42 votes
If one leg of a triangle is 6 inches and the hypotenuse is 13 inches, what

is the length of the other leg?

User Shazam
by
2.8k points

2 Answers

19 votes
19 votes

Answer:

7 inches duhh

Explanation:

User Vesperto
by
3.0k points
15 votes
15 votes

Answer:


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Explanation:

Since this is a right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem.


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In this theorem, a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse.

We are given one leg that is 6 inches and the hypotenuse is 13 inches. We don't know the other leg. Substitute the known values into the formula.


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Solve the exponents.

  • ( 6 in)²= 6 in* 6 in= 36 in²


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  • (13 in)²= 13 in*13 in= 169 in²


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Now, solve for b (the unknown side) by isolating the variable. 36 square inches is being added. The inverse of addition is subtraction, so we subtract 36 from both sides.


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b is being squared. The inverse of a square is the square root. Take the square root of both sides.


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Let's round to the nearest hundredth. The 2 (11.5325625947) in the thousandth place tells us to leave the 3.


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The length of the other leg is approximately 11.53 inches.

User Leonardo Ruiz
by
3.2k points