document.write( "Question 837635: if you know the length of the diagonal, how could you find the length of a side without using the pythagorean thereom or measuring?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #504688 by josgarithmetic(39617) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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One way or another, you WOULD use the Pythagorean Theorem. \r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "You likely mean, diagonal of a rectangle.\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "You have two dimensions, and there is the diagonal, which is a hypotenuse of a right triangle. Let d = the length of the diagonal.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Sides y and k, assuming you know k but do not know y. The area would be y*k, and half the area would be that of a right triangle, (1/2)yk. You will not use this because you are not interested in area; and you are given no perimeter information. \r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The only way to get at y, is $\"y%5E2%2Bk%5E2=d%5E2\"$ , which leads to $\"y=sqrt%28d%5E2-k%5E2%29\"$ .\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "If you THINK that you could plot the description onto a two dimensional coordinate system and use the Distance Formula, and say to yourself, \" I am doing this without using the Pythagorean Theorem\", then you simply do not recognize that the Distance Formula really IS the Pythagorean Theorem. \n" ); document.write( "

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