Question 430184
"I have a tough word problem that I just can not seem to get correct. Can someone please help?

Find the length of side a in the right triangle, if b=8 and c=10."


Pythagorean theorem is a² + b² = c²
where a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse


a² + 8² = 10² {substituted given sides into Pythagorean Theorem}
a² + 64 = 100 {evaluated}
a² = 36 {subtracted 64 from both sides}
a = 6 {took square root of both sides}
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