Question

Moira said, "If a right triangle has one side with a length of 3 units and one side with a length

of 4 units, then the third side has a length of 5 units."
Moira's claim is not true. Give an example of a right triangle with sides of length 3, 4, and a
number other than 5. Explain your reasoning.​

Answer 1

If the two sides with length 3 and 4 are the two legs, then the missing side, i.e. the hypotenuse, is indeed 5.

But it could also be the case that 4 is the hypotenuse and 3 is one of the legs. In this case, the missing side is the other leg, so we calculate it using

`√(4^2-3^2)=√(16-9)=√(7)`

So, a right triangle with legs
`√(7)` and 3 has an hypotenuse of 4.