A student has four sticks of wood that measure 12 in 15 in 18in and 30 in can the student use three of these to make a right triangle ?

Question

Hi please answe 

Answer 1

The Pythagorean Theorem is true for all right triangles:     c² = a² + b²

 

So, list the squares of the numbers and see if one of squares is the sum of two other squares:

    12     144

    15     225

    18     324

    30     900

 

No three of these can form a right triangle.

 

[advanced note:  You could divide the side lengths by 3 and answer this for a possible "similar" triangle:  4,  5,  6,  10]