Question 218267
How do you construct a triangle given the length of the hypotenuse and one of the shorter sides?
:
You should know the Pythagorean theorem: a^2 + b^2 = c^2
where:
a and b are the two sides
and
c is the hypotenuse
:
A simple example 
let a = the unknown side
let b = 4
let c = 5
:
Substitute for b & c and in the equaiton
a^2 + 4^2 = 5^2
:
a^2 + 16 = 25
:
a^2 = 25 - 16; subtracted 16 from both sides
:
a^2 = 9
:
a = {{{sqrt(9)}}}
a = 3 is the unknown side
:
Draw the two legs of right triangle and join them, that's it!