Triangle ABC is a right triangle. The shortest side is 7 m long and the longest side is 10 m long. What is the approximate length of the third side?

1 Answer
Teddy
Jun 30, 2018

The length of the third side is #sqrt(51)"m"~~7.141"m"#

Explanation:

The longest side in a right triangle is the hypotenuse which we know is 10 m long. We can choose any of the two legs to be 7 m long. Let the length of the remaining side be #a#. Pythagoras' theorem states that #a^2+b^2=c^2# where #a# and #b# are the legs of a right triangle and #c# is the hypotenuse.
#:.a^2+7^2=10^2#
#a^2=51#
#a=sqrt(51)~~7.141#

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