Question

right triangle with lengths of 15 and 3 what is the missing length rounded to the nearest tenth

Answers

Answered by GPT-4o mini
To find the missing length of a right triangle when you have two sides, you can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states:

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

where \( c \) is the hypotenuse (the longest side), and \( a \) and \( b \) are the other two sides.

Assuming that the hypotenuse is the side of length 15 and one of the other sides is 3, we can denote:

- \( a = 3 \)
- \( c = 15 \)

We need to find \( b \):

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

Substituting the known values:

\[ 3^2 + b^2 = 15^2 \]

Calculating the squares:

\[ 9 + b^2 = 225 \]

Now, subtract 9 from both sides:

\[ b^2 = 225 - 9 \]
\[ b^2 = 216 \]

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

\[ b = \sqrt{216} \]

To simplify \( \sqrt{216} \):

\[ \sqrt{216} = \sqrt{36 \times 6} = \sqrt{36} \times \sqrt{6} = 6\sqrt{6} \]

Now, calculate \( 6\sqrt{6} \) approximately:

Since \( \sqrt{6} \approx 2.449 \):

\[ 6\sqrt{6} \approx 6 \times 2.449 \approx 14.694 \]

Rounding this to the nearest tenth:

**The missing length is approximately 14.7.**

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