Question

A right triangle has one leg that is 7 centimeters. The hypotenuse is 25 centimeters. Find the length of the other leg.

Answer 1

Since this is a right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to help us.

 $(length-of-leg1)^2+(length-of-leg2)^2 = (length-of-hypotenuse)^2$

Known information:

• one leg's length: 7 cm
• hypotenuse's length: 25cm

Now let's plug the known information into the equation:

 $7^2 + (length-of-leg2)^2=25^2\\(length-of-leg2)^2 = 25^2-7^2\\\\(length-of-leg2)^2 = 576\\\\length-of-leg2=24$

Thus the length of the other leg is 24cm.

Hope it helps!