SOLUTION: The lengths of the legs of a right triangle are 12 cm and 16 cm. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

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Question 294353: The lengths of the legs of a right triangle are 12 cm and 16 cm. What is the length of the hypotenuse?
Found 2 solutions by craigt, Earlsdon:
Answer by craigt(10) About Me  (Show Source):
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Pythagorean theorem
a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2
%2812%29%5E2%2B%2816%29%5E2=c%5E2
400=c%5E2
c=sqrt%28400%29
c=20

Answer by Earlsdon(6294) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Use the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles: c%5E2+=+a%5E2%2Bb%5E2 where c is the length of the hypotenuse, and b & a are the lenghs of the two legs.
c%5E2+=+12%5E2%2B16%5E2
c%5E2+=+144%2B256
c%5E2+=+400 Take the square root of both sides (Discard the negative solution).
c+=+20
The length of the hypotenuse is 20 cm.