document.write( "Question 145010: Solve:\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "On a sunny day, a tree and its shadow form the sides of a right triangle. If the hypotenuse is 52 m long and tree is 48 m tall, how long is the shadow?\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Again, I do not know where to begin to solve this problem. Please help! \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #105716 by solver91311(24713) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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The lengths of the sides of a right triangle always have this relationship where $\"a\"$ and $\"b\"$ are the lengths of the legs of the triangle and $\"c\"$ is the length of the hypotenuse: $\"a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2\"$ , which can also be written as $\"a%5E2=c%5E2-b%5E2\"$ from which you get $\"a=sqrt%28c%5E2-b%5E2%29\"$ . Just plug in the lengths of the hypotenuse and one leg for $\"c\"$ and $\"b\"$ and then do the arithmetic to find $\"a\"$ .\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "You might also notice that $\"52=4%2Agreen%2813%29\"$ and $\"48=4%2Agreen%2812%29\"$ which would be meaningful if you also remembered that a triangle with sides of 13, 12, and 5 is always a right triangle. \n" ); document.write( "

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