Question 1005520: The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 15 inches. One of the legs is 3 inches more than the other. Find the length of the two legs. Answer by fractalier(6550) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Call the legs x and x+3.
From the Pythagorean Theorem, we have
x^2 + (x+3)^2 = 15^2
x^2 + x^2 + 6x + 9 = 225
2x^2 + 6x - 216 = 0
x^2 + 3x - 108 = 0
(x + 12)(x - 9) = 0
x = 9 inches
x+3 = 12 inches
