find the length of a right triangle with 175 meters and 79 meters

1 answer

To find the length of the hypotenuse (the longest side) of a right triangle when you have the lengths of the other two sides, you can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states:

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

where \( c \) is the length of the hypotenuse, and \( a \) and \( b \) are the lengths of the other two sides.

In this case, the lengths of the two sides are \( a = 175 \) meters and \( b = 79 \) meters.

  1. Calculate \( a^2 \):

\[ 175^2 = 30625 \]

  1. Calculate \( b^2 \):

\[ 79^2 = 6241 \]

  1. Add \( a^2 \) and \( b^2 \):

\[ 30625 + 6241 = 36866 \]

  1. Now, take the square root of the sum to find the length of the hypotenuse \( c \):

\[ c = \sqrt{36866} \approx 192.1 \text{ meters} \]

Therefore, the length of the hypotenuse is approximately 192.1 meters.