Question

Find the length of the missing side of the triangle below PLEASE HELPP!!

Answer 1

To find the length of the missing side, you can use the Pythagorean Theorem, which you can only use for right triangles.

Pythagorean Theorem:  a² + b² = c²

[ c is the hypotenuse or the longest side of the triangle, and a and b are the other sides, I think it doesn't matter which side ]

Plug in what you know:

b = 8

c = 14

a² + b² = c²

a² + (8)² = (14)²

a² + 64 = 196       Subtract 64 on both sides

a² = 132       Square root both sides to get "a" by itself

$\sqrt{a^2} =\sqrt{132}$

a = $\sqrt{132}$ inches

If you need to simplify more, you need to find two numbers that multiply to = 132 where one of them can be square rooted, to do so you can list the greatest common factors of 132

132: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 22, 33, 44, 66, 132

The only number that can be square rooted is 4, so you can do:

$a=\sqrt{4*33}$

$a=\sqrt{4} *\sqrt{33}$

$a=2\sqrt{33}$