Question

when Best Buy sells a Samsung 32" flat screen television for $219.99, does the 32" represent the length, width, or diagonal of the television? Use mathematics to explain your answer.

Answer 1

Diagonal

Explanation:

The measure of a television is always indicated by providing the length of the diagonal, in inches.

In fact, the actual length and height of a 32" tv are:

- Length:

L = 27.9 inches

- Height:

h = 15.7 inches

For an object with a rectangular shape, such as the TV, the diagonal of the object can be found by using Pythagorean's theorem:

`d=√(L^2+h^2)`

where

L is the length of the rectangle

h is the height of the rectangle

Substituting the values above, we find:

`d=√((27.9)^2+(15.7)^2)=32.0 in.`

Which corresponds to the diagonal of the TV.