How do you find the missing side of a right triangle given: b=24, c=26?

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Answer 1 · 2016-12-21T20:14:18

#a =10#

Assuming that the sides are #a, b, c# with #c# being the hypotenuse, we can use the pythagorean triples to find the third and shortest side.

Some of the common triples and their multiples are:

#3:4:5rarr" "6:8:10" "9:12:15" "12:16:20#
#5:12:13rarr" "color(red)(10:24:26)" "15:36:39#
#7:24:25rarr" "14:48:50#
#8:15:17rarr" "16:30:34#

#color(red)(10:24:26)# is what we want. The third side is #10#

We could also calculate the unknown side

#a^2 = 26^2-24^2#

#a^2 = 676 - 576 = 100#

#a = sqrt100 = 10#