SOLUTION: Solve: On a sunny day, a tree and its shadow form the sides of a right triangle. If the hypotenuse is 52 m long and tree is 48 m tall, how long is the shadow? Again, I do not

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Question 145010: Solve:
On a sunny day, a tree and its shadow form the sides of a right triangle. If the hypotenuse is 52 m long and tree is 48 m tall, how long is the shadow?
Again, I do not know where to begin to solve this problem. Please help!
Answer by solver91311(24713) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The lengths of the sides of a right triangle always have this relationship where a and b are the lengths of the legs of the triangle and c is the length of the hypotenuse: a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2, which can also be written as a%5E2=c%5E2-b%5E2 from which you get a=sqrt%28c%5E2-b%5E2%29. Just plug in the lengths of the hypotenuse and one leg for c and b and then do the arithmetic to find a.

You might also notice that 52=4%2Agreen%2813%29 and 48=4%2Agreen%2812%29 which would be meaningful if you also remembered that a triangle with sides of 13, 12, and 5 is always a right triangle.