Question

How can I find the hypotenuse and three significant figures?

Answer 1

Given the image of a right angle triangle with adjacent and opposite sides given;

We would use pythagoras formula as;

$\begin{gathered} h^2=o^2+a^2 \\ \text{Where h=hypotenuse} \\ a=\text{adjacent}=4\operatorname{cm} \\ o=\text{opposite}=2\operatorname{cm} \end{gathered}$

Thus, we have;

$\begin{gathered} h^2=4^2+2^2 \\ h^2=16+4 \\ h^2=20 \\ h=\sqrt[]{20} \\ h=4.4721 \end{gathered}$

Now, we would round the answer to three significant figures. We have;

$h=4.47\operatorname{cm}$

Hence, the length of the hypotenuse is 4.47cm