Question 552117: The hypoteneuse of a right triangle is 19 inches. How can I calculate the lengths of the base and height? Found 2 solutions by JBarnum, Theo:Answer by JBarnum(2146) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! well if you had the measurments of the other 2 angles or 2 sides or 1 side or 1 other angle you could solve any of it but theres simply not enough information to solve for anything
all you have is = or and
You can put this solution on YOUR website! hypotenuse is 19 inches.
length and width cannot be calculated exactly from this information.
the formula for the hypotenuse of a right triangle is:
c^2 = a^2 + b^2 where:
c is the hypotenuse
a is one leg
b is the other leg.
you can find what a^2 and b^2 are equal to.
the formula becomes:
19^2 = a^2 + b^2 which becomes:
361 = a^2 + b^2
this doesn't tell you how long "a" is or how long "b" is.
if you assume a value for "a", then you can calculate a value for "b" and vice versa.
the value of "a" can be any length smaller than 19.
assume "a" is 18, then "b" can be calculated as:
a^2 + b^2 = c^2 becomes:
18^2 + b^2 = 19^2 which becomes:
324 + b^2 = 361
subtract 324 from both sides of this equation to get:
b^2 = 361 - 324
take the square root of both sides of this equation to get:
b = sqrt(37)
this results in:
b = 6.08276253
assume another value for "a" and you'll get a different value for "b".
in order to nail down a value for the legs of the triangle, you would need:
the value of a, or:
the value of b, or:
one of the angles of the triangle other than the 90 degree angle.
just knowing the value of c (the hypotenuse) is not enough.
