Question

I am having trouble with this problem. I need to find the lengths of this right triangle. How would you do this?

Answer 1

You labeled the triangle wrong sides 'a' and 'b' are supposed to be the sides that make the right angle.  the other side is called the hypotenuse which is the longest side which you should have labeled 'c'

so Pythagorean theorem says
a^2+b^2=c^2
so
(2x+1)^2+(11x+5)^2=(12x+1)^2
distribute
(4x^2+4x+1)+(121x^2+110x+25)=(144x^2+24x+1)
add like terms
125x^2+114x+26=144x^2+24x+1
subtract 125x^2 from both sides
114x+26=19x^2+24x+1
subtract 114x from both sides
26=19x^2-90x+1
subtract 26 from both sides
0=19x^2-90-25
factor
(x-5)(19x+5)=0
therefor x-5=0 and/or 19x+5=0
so
x-5=0 add 5 to both sides
x=5
19x+5=0
subtract 5 from both sides
19x=-5
divide both sides by 19
x=-5/19
since side legnths can't be negative, we can cross this solution out

so x=5
subtitute
1+2x
1+2(5)
1+10=11
side a=11

11x+5
11(5)+5
55+5=60
side b=60

12x+1
12(5)+1
60+1=60
side c=61
add them all up
side a+b+c=11+60+61=132=total legnth