Question

FIND THE MISSING LENGTH INDICATED

Answer 1

Answer:

25 units.

Step-by-step explanation:

The first thing we need to do is find the hypotenuse of the triangle with side lengths 12 and 16. 12^2 + 16^2 = 144 + 256 = 400. sqrt(400) = 20. So, the hypotenuse of that triangle is 20 units.

Because the smaller length of the smaller triangle bisects the largest triangle's right angle, the two triangles are similar, with the side length 12 corresponding to the smaller side length of the larger triangle, the side length 16 corresponding to the 20 unit side, and the 20 unit hypotenuse corresponding to x.

Now that we know the triangles are similar, we can construct a proportion...

$\frac{16}{20} =\frac{20}{x}$

That means that 4/5 = 20/x

1/5 = 5/x

x = 25

Hope this helps!