A flat screen television is advertised as being 45 inches on its diagonal. If the TV is 18 inches tall, then how wide is the screen?

Question

The screen is________inches wide.

Round your answer to the nearest tenth as needed

Answer 1

Hi Lakerra W.,

This question has some holes in it. First, did the problem state that the screen was exactly rectangular? Second, the TV is stated to be 18 inches tall, not the screen area! Whereas, the diagonal measurement is only for the screen display itself.

Those quibbles aside, you have a right triangle described by the base, height, and diagonal of the screen. I hope you know what to do with right triangles, by this point? If not, it's time to address the issue squarely!

--Cheers, --Mr. d.

Answer 2

This can be solved using the Pythagorean Theorem. The diagonal is the hypotenuse of the triangle. (c)

Let a = width of the screen

a²+b² = c²

a²+(18)² = (45)² Subtract 18² from both sides of the equation

a²= (45)²-(18)²

a²=1701 Take the square root of both sides.

a=41.2 inches