A large fireplace in a hotel has a rectangular opening with a height of 5 feet and a diagonal of 13 feet. What is the width,, x,, of the fireplace opening?

Question

The far left side is 5 feet tall, the diagonal that cuts across the middles is the same way was a forward slash (/). The x that needs to be found is the bottom base.

Answer 1

The base, height and diagonal form a right triangle with the diagonal being the hypotenuse ( draw a picture and you will see this) So you can use Pythagorean theorem to solve

5^2 +x^2 = 13^

25 +x^2 = 169

x^=144

x =12

You could also recognize this as a Pythagorean triple 5-12-13 which would save you having to do the computation