In a right triangle, a and b are the lengths of the legs and c is the length of the hypotenuse. If a=30 meters and b=16 meters, what is c? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.c=

1 answer

To find the length of the hypotenuse \( c \) of a right triangle given the lengths of the other two legs \( a \) and \( b \), you can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states:

\[ c^2 = a^2 + b^2 \]

Given:

  • \( a = 30 \) meters
  • \( b = 16 \) meters

Now, we can plug in the values:

\[ c^2 = 30^2 + 16^2 \] \[ c^2 = 900 + 256 \] \[ c^2 = 1156 \]

Now, take the square root of both sides to find \( c \):

\[ c = \sqrt{1156} \]

Calculating the square root:

\[ c \approx 34.0 \text{ meters} \]

Thus, the length of the hypotenuse \( c \) is approximately \( \boxed{34.0} \) meters.