Question

"suppose that you have measured a length of 6 cm on one board and 8 cm on the other. you would adjust the two boards until the length of the string had value c to ensure that the boards made a right angle. what is c?"

Answer 1

The lengths of the boards are 6 cm and  8 cm.

The boards make a right angle.
Therefore the string connecting the boards is the hypotenuse of a right triangle (shown n the figure).

By the Pythagorean theorem,
c² = 6² + 8² = 100
c = 10 cm

Answer: c = 10 cm