Find the length of the missing side. The triangle is not drawn to scale.

A right triangle with hypotenuse length 17 and leg one length 15.

1 answer

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the missing side, which is the other leg of the right triangle.

Let x be the length of the missing side.

According to the Pythagorean theorem, we have:

x^2 + 15^2 = 17^2

Simplifying, we get:

x^2 + 225 = 289

Subtracting 225 from both sides, we get:

x^2 = 64

Taking the square root of both sides, we get:

x = 8

Therefore, the length of the missing side is 8.