SOLUTION: The Soule's live on a corner lot. Often, children cut across their lot to save walking distance. given the diagram to the right, find how many feet of walking distance is saved by

Question 629676: The Soule's live on a corner lot. Often, children cut across their lot to save walking distance. given the diagram to the right, find how many feet of walking distance is saved by cutting across the property instead of walking around the lot.
Base of triangle is x, height of triangle is x+1, and the hypotenuse is 5.
Answer by ewatrrr(24785) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

 

Hi,

Base of triangle is x, height of triangle is x+1, and the hypotenuse is 5.

 Using the Pytahgorean theorem

     x^2 + (x+1)^2 = 5^2

      2x^2 + 2x + 1 = 25

       x^2 + x - 24 = 0

        (x + 4)(x-3) = 0

                 x = 3  (throwing out the negative solution for unit measure

 Cutting across the lawn saves 3 + 4 - 5 = 2 units of measurement

   

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