Question

The longer leg of a right triangle is 3 inches more than the length of the shorter leg tripled. the hypotenuse is 3 inches less than four times the length of the shorter leg. find the length of the hypotenuse

Answer 1

We have this equation.
A²+B²=C²
We have bits of information that'll help us simplify the equation so there's only one variable.
The longer leg, A, is 3 inches more than the length of the shorter leg, B, tripled.
A=3B+3
Let's plug that in.
(3b+3)²+B²=C²
The hypotenuse, C, is 3 inches less than four times the length of the shorter leg. C=4B-3
Let's plug that in.
(3b+3)²+B²=(4B-3)²
Let's solve.
9B²+18B+9+B²=16B²-24B+9
10B²+18B+9=16b²-24b+9
Let's subtract 9 from both sides.
10b²+18b=16b²-24b
Let's subtract 10b² from both sides.
18b=6b²-24b
Let's add 24b from both sides.
42b=6b²
Let's divide each side by 6.
7b=b²
With this, you can tell that b is 7 since it times 7 equal itself squared.
The shorter leg is 7 inches.
Now, let's look back at the bits of information.
The longer leg of a right triangle is 3 inches more than the length of the shorter side tripled.
3(7)+3=24
So, the longer side is 24. We can either use the other information or plug it into the equation. We can do both. 
The hypotenuse is 3 less than four times the shorter leg.
4(7)-3=25
7²+24²=
49+576=625
√625=25
So, the length of the hypotenuse is 25 inches.