Jerrod found the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs that are 3 ft and 1 ft. Is his answer correct? c2=32+12 c2=9+1 c2=8 c=8–√ (1 point) Responses No, he set up the Pythagorean theorem incorrectly. No, he set up the Pythagorean theorem incorrectly. No, he subtracted 1 and 9 instead of adding. No, he subtracted 1 and 9 instead of adding. Yes, he correctly calculated the length of the hypotenuse. Yes, he correctly calculated the length of the hypotenuse. No, he made an error finding the square root. No, he made an error finding the square root. Skip to navigation

1 answer

To determine if Jerrod's calculation of the hypotenuse is correct, we will apply the Pythagorean theorem, which states that for a right triangle with legs of lengths \( a \) and \( b \), and hypotenuse \( c \):

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

Here, the lengths of the legs are 3 ft and 1 ft.

Calculating the squares:

\[ c^2 = 3^2 + 1^2 \] \[ c^2 = 9 + 1 \] \[ c^2 = 10 \]

To find \( c \), we take the square root of both sides:

\[ c = \sqrt{10} \]

Now let's analyze Jerrod's work:

  1. He wrote \( c^2 = 9 + 1 \), which is correct.
  2. However, he seems to have stated that \( c^2 = 8 \) in his process, which is incorrect. The correct addition is \( 10 \).
  3. Lastly, when he tried to find \( c \), he wrote \( c = 8 - \sqrt{???} \), which does not make sense.

Given this analysis, Jerrod made errors in two steps:

  • He did not sum the squares correctly.
  • He miscalculated the square root aspect.

So the correct response is: No, he set up the Pythagorean theorem incorrectly.