Question

One of the legs of a right triangle measures 12 cm and its hypotenuse measures 20 cm. Find the measure of the other leg. If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

other leg = 16 cm

Explanation:

using Pythagoras' identity in the right triangle

the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other 2 sides.

let x be the other leg , then

x² + 12² = 20²

x² + 144 = 400 ( subtract 144 from both sides )

x² = 256 ( take square root of both sides )

x =
`√(256)` = 16