SOLUTION: The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 32 feet long. One leg is 2 feet longer than the other. Find the length of the shorter leg. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth.

Question 330992: The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 32 feet long. One leg is 2 feet longer than the other. Find the length of the shorter leg. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth.
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Try this:
Let x be the length of the shorter leg and x+2 be the length of the other leg.
Applying the Pythagorean theorem, we get:
Simplify.
Subtract 1024 from both sides.
Divide both sides by 2 to simplify a bit.
Solve this by the quadratic formula: where: a = 1, b = 2, and c = -510

You can work this out on your calculator and you should get:
and Discard the negative solution, and your answer is:
Rounded to the nearest hundredth.
RELATED QUESTIONS
1. One leg of a right triangle is 2 feet longer than the other leg. The hypotenuse is 10... (answered by josmiceli,texttutoring,PRMath)

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 9 feet long. One leg is 2 feet longer than the... (answered by TimothyLamb)

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 9 feet long. One leg is 3 feet longer than the... (answered by josgarithmetic)

In a right triangle, one leg is 7 feet shorter than the other leg. The hypotenuse is 2... (answered by addingup,ikleyn,MathTherapy)

how do I find the hypotenuse of a right triangle that is 26 feet long, with one leg... (answered by Alan3354)

the length of one leg of a right triangle is 6ft . the legth of the hypotenuse is 2 feet (answered by Fombitz)

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 5 feet long. One leg is 3 feet longer then the... (answered by nerdybill)

The length of one leg of a right triangle is 15 feet. The length of the hypotenuse is 9... (answered by stanbon)

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 26 feet long. One leg is 14 feet longer than the... (answered by Nate,checkley71)