Question

An art studio purchased a triangular plot of land in a town and constructed a new building whose base is in the shape of a right triangle. The two legs have lengths of xminus4 feet and x plus 6 feet. The hypotenuse is 2 minus 18 feet. Find the lengths of the three sides.

Answer 1

The sides are 30 ft, 40 ft and 50 ft.

Explanation:

The length of the triangle are as follows x - 4 , x + 6 and 2x - 18 . The hypotenuse should be 2x - 18 . The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right angle triangle.

Using Pythagoras theorem the length of the sides can be found.

a² + b² = c²

(x - 4)² + (x + 6)² = (2x - 18)²

(x - 4)(x - 4) + (x + 6)(x + 6) = (2x - 18)(2x - 18)

x²- 4x - 4x + 16 + x² + 6x + 6x + 36 = 4x² - 36x - 36x + 324

2x² - 8x + 12x + 16 + 36 = 4x² - 72x + 324

2x² + 4x + 52 = 4x² - 72x + 324

2x² - 4x² + 4x + 72x + 52 - 324 = 0

-2x² + 76x - 272 = 0

2x² - 76x + 272 = 0

divide through by 2

x² - 38x + 136 = 0

find the number you can multiply to give you 136 and add to give you - 38. The number are - 34 and - 4.

x² - 4x - 34x + 136 = 0

x(x - 4) - 34(x - 4) = 0

(x - 4)(x - 34 ) = 0

x = 4 or 34

we can only use 34 since using 4 will result to negative number.

x - 4 = 34 - 4 = 30 ft

x + 6 = 34 + 6 = 40 ft

2x - 18 = 68 - 18 = 50 ft