Question

james attached a diagonal brace across a rectangular frame that measures 6ft by 8ft what is the length of the diagonal brace

Answer 1

To solve this you would use the pythagorean theorem since the brace is making the frame look like two right triangles. The theorem states that for a triangle with a right angle, A^2+B^2=C^2. A and B are the sides of the frame and C is the brace which is like the hypotenuse of the triangle. It doesn't matter which side is A or B so you can put 6 or 8 in place of either in the equation. 6^2+8^2=C^2. If you simplify this it equals 36+64=C^2, which then simplifies to 100=C^2. Then you take the square root of both sides (what number multiplied by itself = the number you are trying to get, in this case, 100). So then you get C=10 because 10x10=100. So the length of the diagonal brace is 10ft.