SOLUTION: Find the leg of a right triangle if one leg is 8 and the hypotenuse is 12

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Question 85459: Find the leg of a right triangle if one leg is 8 and the hypotenuse is 12
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Since we have a triangle with legs of 8 , x(our unknown side) and a hypotenuse of 12, we can use Pythagoreans theorem to find the unknown side.
Pythagoreans theorem
a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2

8%5E2%2Bb%5E2=12%5E2 Plug in a=8 and c=12 and lets solve for b
6+4+%2B++b++%5E+2+=+1+4+4 Square each individual term



+b++%5E+2+=+1+4+4+-+6+4 Subtract 64 from both sides


+b++%5E+2+=+8+0 Combine like terms


s+q+r+t+%28++b++%5E+2+%29+=+s+q+r+t+%28+8+0+%29 Take the square root of both sides


b+=+s+q+r+t+%28+8+0+%29

b=4%2Asqrt%285%29 Simplify

So our answer is
b=4%2Asqrt%285%29