How to find the longest side of a right-angled triangle if we are given the two other sides?

We can find the longest side of a right angled triangle (also called the hypotenuse) by using Pythagoras' Theorem and considering the lengths of the two other sides given to us. Pythagoras' Theorem is written mathematically as H^2 = b^2 + c^2 where H is the length of the longest side, located opposite the right angle, and b and c are the lengths of the other two sides. In simple terms, the theorem explains that the square of the longest side is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (b and c).To find the longest side we simply compute the square of side b (multiply it by itself) and add it to the square of side c. However, because this gives us the square of the longest side, we need to square root the value that we get from squaring and adding b and c, to obtain the length of the longest side.

Answered by Denzel C. Maths tutor

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