GED Math : Triangles

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GED Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #111 : Triangles

The the two legs of a right triangle have lengths of  inches and  inches, what is the hypotenuse (the longest side)?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We need to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing side;

The theorem says:

"For any right triangle, with legs  and  and hypotenuse , the formula  can be used to find any missing side of this triangle."

So, we are given  and  in the question...

We will plug them into the theorem:

Simplify:

Simplify:

Add:

To find , we must take the square root of both sides:

So..

Reduce:

Simplify:

 

Example Question #112 : Triangles

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is  and one of its legs measures . What is the length of the triangle's other leg? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem, you just need to remember your handy Pythagorean theorem. Remember that it is defined as:

where  and  are the legs of the triangle, and  is the hypotenuse. Remember, however, that this only works for right triangles. Thus, based on your data, you know:

or

Subtracting 484 from each side of the equation, you get:

Using your calculator to calculate the square root, you get:

Rounding, this is , so the triangle's other leg measures .

Example Question #113 : Triangles

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is  and one of its leg measures . What is the length of the triangle's other leg? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem, you just need to remember your handy Pythagorean theorem. Remember that it is defined as:

where  and  are the legs of the triangle, and  is the hypotenuse. Remember, however, that this only works for right triangles. Thus, based on your data, you know:

or

Subtracting 1056784 from each side of the equation, you get:

Using your calculator to calculate the square root, you get:

The length of the missing side of the triangle is .

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