A flat screen television is advertised as being 43 inches on its diagonal. If the TV is 21 inches tall, then how wide is the screen?

Answer 1

Hi Ashley,

The angles given form the hypotenuse and 1 side of a triangle

Assuming the TV is square, the triangle formed is a right triangle, so we can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for the missing side, which is also the width of the TV.

using the equation:

a² + b² = c²

we can plug in the values we know and solve for the missing side

a = 21

c = 43

b = missing side

Remember variable c in the equation is always the hypotenuse, the longest side of a triangle.

Now we substitute the values into the equation and solve for b, the missing side.

(21)² + b² = (43)²

b² = (43)² - (21)²

b = √[(43)² - (21)²]

b ~ 37.52

Therefore, the width of the TV is 37.52 inches.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I hope this helps!