McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012
MH
McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012 View details
2. The Pythagorean Theorem and Its Converse
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Exercise 28 Page 635

17

Practice makes perfect
To find the missing side of the triangle, we will use the Pythagorean Theorem. a^2+b^2=c^2

In the formula, a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse of a right triangle. We are given a triangle with b=15 and c=x. We are also given that 2a measures 16, therefore a=8.

Let's substitute these values into the formula.
a^2+b^2=c^2
8^2+ 15^2= x^2
â–Ľ
Solve for x
64+225=x^2
289=x^2
17=x
x=17
Since a negative side length does not make sense, we only need to consider positive solutions.