find the length of one leg of a right triangle if the length of the hypotenuse is 18 feet and the length of the other leg is 14 feet. round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

14^2 + x^2 = 18^2
x^2 = 18^2 - 14^2 = 324 - 196 = 128 = 2*64 = 2 * 8^2
so
x = 8 sqrt 2 = 11.3137085 or 11.3

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check
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11.3^2 = 128
14^2 = 196
sum = 324
sqrt = 18 , whew !

Answer 2

x^2 + 14^2 = 18^2
x^2 = 324 - 196 =128
x = √128 or 8√2