SOLUTION: use the Pythagorean theorem to find the value of y, ti the nearest hundredth. side a is y+2, side b is y and side c is 17. can u plz help me out thnx

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Question 391244: use the Pythagorean theorem to find the value of y, ti the nearest hundredth. side a is y+2, side b is y and side c is 17. can u plz help me out thnx
Found 2 solutions by Alan3354, stanbon:
Answer by Alan3354(69443)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
use the Pythagorean theorem to find the value of y, ti the nearest hundredth. side a is y+2, side b is y and side c is 17.
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Assuming 17 is the long side:


Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation (work shown, graph etc)
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=2296 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: .




Quadratic expression can be factored:

Again, the answer is: 10.9791485507109, -12.9791485507109. Here's your graph:

--------------------
Ignore the negative solution
y = 10.98
side b = 10.98
side a = 12.98

Answer by stanbon(75887)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
use the Pythagorean theorem to find the value of y, to the nearest hundredth. side a is y+2, side b is y and side c is 17.
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If I assume that c is the hypotenuse I get:
17^2 = y^2 + (y+2)^2
289 = y^2 + y^2+4y+4
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Rearrange:
2y^2 + 4y -285 = 0
y = [-4 +- sqrt(16-4*2*-285)]/4
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y = [-4 +- sqrt(2296)]/4
---
y = [-4 +- 47.92]/4
---
y = [43.92]/4
---
y = 10.98
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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