Question

In a computer catalog, a computer monitor is listed as being 19 inches.This distance is the diagonal distance across the screen.If the screen measures 10 inches in height,what is the actual width of the screen

Answer 1

Let's use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve this.

One side is 10 inches, the other side we don't know, and the hypotenuse is 19 inches. We will call the side we don't know x.

Thus, $10^2 + x^2 = 19^2$
$x = \sqrt{19^2 - 10^2} = \sqrt{261} = \boxed{3\sqrt{29}}$