The exact value of y is
.
Solution:
The attached below shows how the formula is written.
Using geometric mean,
Total base length (p + q) = 8
q = 6
p = 8 – 6 = 2
Let us first find the height of the triangle.
Taking square root on both sides,
Using Pythagoras theorem,
In right triangle, square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
The exact value of y is
.