document.write( "Question 294353: The lengths of the legs of a right triangle are 12 cm and 16 cm. What is the length of the hypotenuse? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #212270 by Earlsdon(6294) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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Use the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles: $\"c%5E2+=+a%5E2%2Bb%5E2\"$ where c is the length of the hypotenuse, and b & a are the lenghs of the two legs.
\n" ); document.write( " $\"c%5E2+=+12%5E2%2B16%5E2\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"c%5E2+=+144%2B256\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"c%5E2+=+400\"$ Take the square root of both sides (Discard the negative solution).
\n" ); document.write( " $\"c+=+20\"$
\n" ); document.write( "The length of the hypotenuse is 20 cm. \n" ); document.write( "

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