document.write( "Question 1057764: The flower garden has the shape of a right triangle. 5 ft of a perennial border forms the hypotenuse of the triangle, and one leg is 1 ft longer than other leg. Find the lengths of the legs. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #672912 by jorel555(1290) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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Let n be the length of the shortest leg of the triangle. Then the other leg is n+1; and we know the hypotenuse is 5, so:
\n" ); document.write( "(n)²+(n+1)²=5²
\n" ); document.write( "2n²+2n-24=0
\n" ); document.write( "n²+n-12=0
\n" ); document.write( "(n+4)(n-3)=0
\n" ); document.write( "n=3 or -4
\n" ); document.write( "Throwing out the negative result, we get the length of the shortest leg to be 3 ft., and the longer leg to be 4 ft. ☺☺☺☺ \n" ); document.write( "

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