SOLUTION: The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 70 inches long. One leg is 2 inch(es) longer than the other. Find the lengths of the legs of the triangle. Round your answers to the nearest t

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Question 952478: The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 70 inches long. One leg is 2 inch(es) longer than the other. Find the lengths of the legs of the triangle. Round your answers to the nearest tenth of an inch.
Answer by macston(5194)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
a=short leg; b=long leg=a+2in; c=hypotenuse=70in



(((2a^2+4a-4896in^2=0}}}
Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation with variable
Quadratic equation (in our case ) has the following solutons:



For these solutions to exist, the discriminant should not be a negative number.

First, we need to compute the discriminant : .

Discriminant d=39184 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: .




Quadratic expression can be factored:

Again, the answer is: 48.4873721266345, -50.4873721266345. Here's your graph:

a=48.5in ANSWER 1:The short leg is 48.5 in.
b=a+2in=50.5in ANSWER 2: The long leg is 50.5 in.


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