Suppose a right triangle has one leg of length 5 cm. The hypotenuse is twice as long as the other leg. Find the missing two sides of the right triangle.

Question

I don't know how to find the answer.

Answer 1

4x^2 = x^2 + 25

 

3x^2 = 25

 

x^2 = 25/3

 

x = 5 / √3

 

We don't take the negative value of x only the positive one.

Answer 2

The other leg is x

The hypotenuse is 2x

 

So you use the Pythagoras's theorem:

 

(2x)²= x² + 5² and solve for x which is the other leg.