document.write( "Question 1124029: One leg of a right triangle is 4 inches longer than the other. The hypotenuse of the triangle is 8 inches longer than the shorter leg. What are the lengths of the 3 sides of the triangle? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #740420 by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \n" ); document.write( ": \n" ); document.write( "One leg of a right triangle is 4 inches longer than the other. \n" ); document.write( "a = b + 4 \n" ); document.write( ": \n" ); document.write( " The hypotenuse of the triangle is 8 inches longer than the shorter leg. \n" ); document.write( "c = b + 8 \n" ); document.write( ": \n" ); document.write( " What are the lengths of the 3 sides of the triangle? \n" ); document.write( "replace a & c in the formula \n" ); document.write( "(b+4)^2 + b^2 = (b+8)^2 \n" ); document.write( "FOIL \n" ); document.write( "b^2 + 8b + 16 + b^2 = b^2 + 16b + 64 \n" ); document.write( "Combine like terms on the left \n" ); document.write( "b^2 + b^2 - b^2 + 8b - 16b + 16 - 64 = 0 \n" ); document.write( "b^2 - 8b - 48 = 0 \n" ); document.write( "Factors to \n" ); document.write( "(b-12)(b+4) = 0 \n" ); document.write( "the positive solution is all we want here \n" ); document.write( "b = 12 \n" ); document.write( "then, obviously \n" ); document.write( "a = 16 \n" ); document.write( "c = 20 \n" ); document.write( ": \n" ); document.write( ": \n" ); document.write( "Check on your calc: |