Question

The legs of a right triangle are 12 centimetres and 16 centimeters. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

15 centimeters
17 centimeters
20 centimeters
28 centimeters

Answer 1

So we can use the Pythagorean's Theorem to figure this out.

The Pythagorean's Theorem is: a^2 + b^2 = c^2

Basically, leg1 squared plus leg2 squared = hypotenuse squared

So the two legs are 12 and 16, so we can put them in the equation.

12^2 + 16 ^ 2 = hypotenuse ^2

Or,

144 + 256 = hypotenuse ^ 2

400 = hypotenuse ^ 2

Then we can do the square root of 400 to find the hypotenuse.

√400 = 20

The length of the hypotenuse is 20 centimeters.

Answer 2

The length of the hypotenuse is 20 centimeters.

In order to solve this question, we'll use the Pythagoras formula which will be:

a² + b² = c²

where,

First leg = a = 12 centimeters

Second leg = b = 16 centimeters

Hypothenuse = c = Unknown

It should be noted that the hypothenuse is the longest side and therefore the formula will be:

a² + b² = c²

12² + 16² = c²

144 + 256 = c²

400 = c²

Therefore, c = ✓400

c = 20

Therefore, the length of the hypotenuse is 20 centimeters.

Read related link on:

https://brainly.com/question/5037947