If the hypotenuse is 41 inches and one of the legs is 40 inches, what is the length of the other leg in inches?

1 Answer
Momo · Shwetank Mauria
Nov 20, 2016

The length of the other leg is #9# inches

Explanation:

As this is a right angle (use of word hypotenuse means opposite angle is right angle), you can use the Pythagorean theorem. This states that
#x^2+y^2=r^2#, or leg 1 squared plus leg 2 squared equals the hypotenuse squared.

So, all you need to do is plug in your known numbers and solve for the unknown variable.

#40^2+y^2=41^2#
#1600+y^2=1681#
#y^2=81#
#y=sqrt81#
#y=9#
So, the length of the missing leg is 9 inches.

(y cannot be negative 9 because you cannot have a triangle with a negative side!)

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