SOLUTION: I really need help with this problem. I know it will be a system of equtions but I don't know what those equations would be! Here it is: A right triangle has a perimeter of 40

Question 29982: I really need help with this problem. I know it will be a system of equtions but I don't know what those equations would be! Here it is:
A right triangle has a perimeter of 40 units and one leg has a length of 8 units. What are the lengths of the other legs?
Answer by Fermat(136) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Label the three sides as a,b,c, and let a be the hypotenuse.
Suppose a = 8.
Since a is the hypotenuse, then the shortest the other two sides could be is 16 units each, and there is no way that 16� + 16� = 8�.
In other words, the side of length 8 cannot be a hypotenuse so it must be one of the other sides.
let c = 8, say.
The perimeter: a + b + c = 40
i.e. a + b = 32
===============
Pathagoras' theorem: a� = b� + c�
i.e. a� = b� + 64
=================
Now substitute for a = 32 - b into the quadratic eqn and solve for a.
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