Question

If one leg of a right triangle is 8 mm and the other leg is 5 mm, what is the approximate length of the hypotenuse of the triangle? round your answer to the nearest whole.

Answer 1

Answer: 9 mm

Explanation:

a² + b² = c²
8² + 5² = c²
c² = 64 + 25
c² = 89
c= √89
c = 9 mm (nearest whole number)

Answer 2

The formula to calculate the missing side of a triangle is the Pythagorean theorem:

c² = a² + b²

In your case, c will be the hypotenuse:

$c^{2} = 8^{2} + 5^{2}$
$c^{2} = 64 + 25$
$c^{2} = 89$
$c = \sqrt{89}$
$c = 9,43$ 

The answer is 9mm.

Hope it helped!