SOLUTION: Maria has a square garden in her backyard. The diagonal of the garden is 8 feet. Find the lengths of one side of the garden.

Algebra ->  Pythagorean-theorem -> SOLUTION: Maria has a square garden in her backyard. The diagonal of the garden is 8 feet. Find the lengths of one side of the garden.      Log On


   

Question 858203: Maria has a square garden in her backyard. The diagonal of the garden is 8 feet. Find the lengths of one side of the garden.
Answer by JulietG(1812) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The key is that her garden is square so the sides are the same length. We know the diagonal across is 8'.
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a%5E2+b%5E2=c%5E2
2(a%5E2)=8%5E2
2(a%5E2)=64
Divide each side by 2
a%5E2=32
Square root of each side
a = 5.656854249... (square root of 32)
.
Seems like a strange answer. Let's check it.
(sq rt of 32)^2 + (sq rt of 32)^2 = 8^2
32 + 32 = 64
It's correct. The length of the sides are "the square root of 32"