GED Math : Triangles
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Example Questions
Example Question #21 : Pythagorean Theorem
The the two legs of a right triangle have lengths of inches and inches, what is the hypotenuse (the longest side)?
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 #111 : 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.
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 #112 : 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.
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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