SOLUTION: The flower garden has a shape of a right triangle. 20 ft of the perennial border forms the hypotenuse of the triangle, and one leg is 4 ft longer than the other leg. Find the lengt

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Question 144271This question is from textbook introductory and intermediate algebra
: The flower garden has a shape of a right triangle. 20 ft of the perennial border forms the hypotenuse of the triangle, and one leg is 4 ft longer than the other leg. Find the lengths of the legs.
x=one side, x+4 is the second side.
x%5E2+%2B+%28x%2B4%29%5E2+=+20%5E2
x%5E2+%2B+x%5E2%2B8x%2B16+=+400
x%5E2%2B4x-192=0
(x+16)(x-12)=0
x = -16 or 12. Negative lengths are discarded, so x = 12. The second side is x+4, or 16.
What are the lengths of the legs? This question is from textbook introductory and intermediate algebra

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