Question

Given a right triangle with legs a, b and hypotenuse c, solve for b if a= 72 and c= 75

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is a. 21.

Step-by-step explanation:

We solve this question by using Pythagoras theorem to relate the sides of a right angled triangle.

Here,

Hypotenuse of the given triangle(c)=75

Two sides of right angled triangle are:

a=72

b=?

Then,

for a given right angled triangle abc,

Using Pythagoras theorem,

$c=\sqrt{a^{2} +b^{2} }$

Squaring on both sides,

$c^{2} =a^{2}+b^{2}$

or,$75^{2}=72^{2}+b^{2}$

or, $b^{2}=75^{2}-72^{2}$

or,$b^{2}=5625- 5184$

or,$b^{2} =441$

∴$b=21$

So, the value of b is obtained to 21 by the use of Pythagoras theorem.