How do you find the missing length for the right triangle below the short side is 9cm and the hypotenuse is 30 cm?

Question

How do you find the missing length for the right triangle below  the short side is 9cm and the hypotenuse is 30 cm?

Julia Adams · Accepted Answer

28.62cm

The Pythagorean theorem is this: #a^2+b^2=c^2#, where #c# is the hypotenuse (which is the longest side and is opposite the right angle), and #a# and #b# are the other sides. Given the information we have, we can say that: #9^2+b^2=30^2#, where #b# is the unknown side. Now its a matter of rearranging and solving: #b^2=30^2-9^2# #b^2=900-81# #b^2=819# #b=sqrt(28.618)# And if you type that into your calculator you'll get #b=28.62cm# (Don't forget units)

Abigail Allen · Answer

undefined To find the missing length of the right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.

In this case, we have the length of the short side (9 cm) and the length of the hypotenuse (30 cm). Let's denote the missing length as x.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can set up the equation:

9^2 + x^2 = 30^2

Simplifying this equation, we have:

81 + x^2 = 900

Subtracting 81 from both sides, we get:

x^2 = 819

Taking the square root of both sides, we find:

x ≈ 28.63 cm

Therefore, the missing length of the right triangle is approximately 28.63 cm.