Question

The Pythagorean Theorem describes the relationship between the lengths of the legs of any right

triangle. In a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the
squares of the lengths of the legs. You can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of a
side of a right triangle if the lengths of the other two legs are known.
Find the value of a:
.
13
a
a + b = c?
a
12

Answer 1

a = 5

Explanation:

let's label the triangle as a, b and c

where b is the hypotenuse and c is the adjacent of the hypotenuse a to be the height.

from the formula

a² + c² = b²

we substitute the values to find a

so,

a² + 12² = 13²

but we don't know "a" so we make it stand alone by grouping liked terms.

a² = 13² - 12²

a² = 25

we need "a" not "a²" so we take the square root of both sides to get rid of "a²" leaving "a"

`\sqrt{ {a}^(2) } = √(25)`

and the answer will be

a = 5