Question 422365
"In a right triangle find the length of the side not given.
b = 1 and c = √5 and a = ?
I am not good with these type of problems at all so have no work to show what so ever."


Pythagorean Theorem is a^2 + b^2 = c^2
- the sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse


b = 1, c = √5, a = ?
a^2 + (1)^2 = (√5)^2 {substituted into the pythagorean theorem}
a^2 + 1 = 5 {squared 1 and squared √5}
a^2 = 4 {subtracted 1 from both sides}
a = 2 {took the square root of both sides, accepting only positive √4, since it is a measurement)


a = 2
<a href = "http://www.algebrahouse.com/" target = "_blank">www.algebrahouse.com</a>