find the length of the missing side for this right triangle. Estimate an irrational answer to two decimal places

left side=4
top side=7
hypotenuse=?

1 answer

In a right triangle, you can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse. The theorem states that:

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

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

In your case, the left side (one leg of the triangle) is \( 4 \) and the top side (the other leg) is \( 7 \).

  1. Substitute the values into the formula:

\[ c^2 = 4^2 + 7^2 \]

  1. Calculate the squares:

\[ c^2 = 16 + 49 \] \[ c^2 = 65 \]

  1. Take the square root of both sides to find \( c \):

\[ c = \sqrt{65} \]

Now, to estimate \( \sqrt{65} \) to two decimal places:

Using a calculator or estimating the square root, we find:

\[ \sqrt{65} \approx 8.06 \]

So, the length of the missing hypotenuse is approximately 8.06.