Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle measures 15 cm and one of its legs measures 13 cm. Find the measure of the other leg

Answer 1

Hi!

We can solve this using the Pythagorean Theorem.

`a^2+b^2=c^2` where
`a` and
`b` are the legs and
`c` is the hypotenuse.

Given:

1 leg = 13

2 leg = ???

hypotenuse = 15

Plug the values into the equation above:

`13^2+b^2=15^2`

Multiply using exponents:

`169+b^2=225`

Subtract 169 from both sides:

`b^2=56`

Take the square root of both sides:

`b=`
`√(56)`