SOLUTION: Find the unknown side of the right triangle. Round to the nearest thousandths. One side is 9yd, the other side is 12 yd.

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Question 179419: Find the unknown side of the right triangle. Round to the nearest thousandths. One side is 9yd, the other side is 12 yd.
Answer by jim_thompson5910(21667) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
I'm assuming that the missing side is the hypotenuse.


So we basically have this triangle set up:


drawing%28500%2C500%2C-0.5%2C2%2C-0.5%2C3.2%2C%0D%0Aline%280%2C0%2C0%2C3%29%2C%0D%0Aline%280%2C3%2C2%2C0%29%2C%0D%0Aline%282%2C0%2C0%2C0%29%2C%0D%0Alocate%28-0.2%2C1.5%2C9%29%2C%0D%0Alocate%281%2C-0.2%2C12%29%2C%0D%0Alocate%281%2C2%2Cx%29%0D%0A%29


Since the legs are 9 and 12 this means that a=9 and b=12


Also, since the hypotenuse is x, this means that c=x.


a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2 Start with the Pythagorean theorem.


9%5E2%2B12%5E2=x%5E2 Plug in a=9, b=12, c=x


81%2B12%5E2=x%5E2 Square 9 to get 81.


81%2B144=x%5E2 Square 12 to get 144.


225=x%5E2 Combine like terms.


x%5E2=225 Rearrange the equation.


x=sqrt%28225%29 Take the square root of both sides. Note: only the positive square root is considered (since a negative length doesn't make sense).


x=15 Simplify the square root.


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Answer:


So the solution is x=15 which means that the length of the missing side is 15 yards.