We can see on the diagram that the missing length x is the slant height of the square pyramid. Notice that the slant height of the pyramid is the hypotenuse of the right triangle with the red sides. This means that we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the slant height x.
a^2+b^2=c^2
In the formula, a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse of a right triangle. Let's identify a, b, and c on the right triangle!
In this right triangle, the legs are 1.6 centimeters and 1.2 centimeters long. The hypotenuse is x. We will substitute these values into the Pythagorean Theorem and solve for x.
We found that x is 2 centimeters. This means that the hypotenuse of the right triangle, and therefore the slant height of the square pyramid, is 2 centimeters long.
