Question

The two shortest legs of a right triangle are 12 cm and 16 cm. What is the length of the longest leg?

Answer 1

Wouldn’t it be 4 more inches than 16 so wouldn’t it be 20

Answer 2

Answer:

The length of the longest leg is 20 cm.

Step-by-step explanation:

Use the Pythagorean theorem to work this out; a² + b² =  c².

If the two shortest legs (sides) are 12 cm and 16 cm, then the longest leg will be substituted by c.

Substitute 12 into a and 16 into b. The equation then becomes:

12² + 16² = c². Simplify this equation.

144 + 256 = 400.

Now, find the square root of 400 (c) because this answer is c in squared form.

$\sqrt{400}$ = 20.

Hence, the length of the longest leg is 20 cm.