Answer: 4 inches
Explanation:
1. We gonna find the the length of the right triangle legs using Phitagor theorem.
c²=a²+b² (1) , where c is triangle's hypotenuse
a and b are the triangle's legs.
Let the leg a =x, so leg b=x+1 inches
Now we can write the equation using (1)
25=x²+(x+1)²
25=x²+x²+2*x+1
2*x²+2*x-24=0 ( divide by 2 both sides of the equation)
x²+x-12=0
Find the discriminant D=1+12*4=49
√D=7
x1= (-1+7)/2=3 x2=(-1-7)/2=-4 - x2=-4 not possible so length of the leg can not be negative.
So the shorter leg a=x= 3 inches
The longer leg b=x+1=4 inches