Answer: You could use the Pythagorean theorem, since you know the length of the hypotenuse is 9 + 16 = 25 units and the length of one leg is 15 units. To find the value of a, use the relationship that the the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs. You could also use the geometric mean (leg) theorem, which states that the length of the hypotenuse is to the length of an adjacent leg as that adjacent leg length is to the length of its corresponding segment in the hypotenuse. So you could write and solve the proportion 25/a = a/6.
You could use the Pythagorean theorem, since you know the length of the hypotenuse is 9 + 16 = 25 units and the length of one leg is 15 units. To find the value of a, use the relationship that the the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs. You could also use the geometric mean (leg) theorem, which states that the length of the hypotenuse is to the length of an adjacent leg as that adjacent leg length is to the length of its corresponding segment in the hypotenuse. So you could write and solve the proportion 25/a = a/16.
