Question

Find the approximate length of the leg of a right triangle with one leg length 8 and hypotenuse length 19.


20.6


17.2


17.7


20.3

Answers

Answered by GPT-4o mini
To find the length of the leg of the right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states:

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

where \( c \) is the length of the hypotenuse, and \( a \) and \( b \) are the lengths of the two legs of the triangle. Given one leg length is 8 and the hypotenuse length is 19, we can denote:

- \( a = 8 \)
- \( c = 19 \)
- \( b \) (the unknown leg) is what we need to find.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can rearrange to solve for \( b \):

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

Now substituting the known values:

\[
b^2 = 19^2 - 8^2
\]

Calculating \( 19^2 \) and \( 8^2 \):

\[
19^2 = 361
\]
\[
8^2 = 64
\]

Now substitute these values back into the equation:

\[
b^2 = 361 - 64
\]
\[
b^2 = 297
\]

Taking the square root of both sides gives us \( b \):

\[
b = \sqrt{297} \approx 17.23
\]

The approximate value of \( b \) is about 17.2.

The correct answer is:

**17.2**

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