Question

A slice of cheese is shaped like a right triangle, with a hypotenuse of 25 mm and a height of 24 mm. How wide is the cheese?

Answer 1

7 mm wide

To solve this, you can use the Pythagorean theorem.

A triangle's sides is length squared + length squared = hypotenuse squared. We know the hypotenuse and one side of the triangle. So, we can follow the equation 24 squared + x squared = 25 squared

To solve this, find the value of 24 squared and 25 squared. 24 squared = 576, and 25 squared = 625, so your equation becomes 576 + x squared = 625

Next, you subtract your known values. 576 + x squared – 576 = 625 – 576 = 49, so x squared = 49

For the last step, find the square root (√) of 49, which is 7. So x = 7 mm

And you can check: 24 squared + 7 squared = 25 squared