We are given a right angled triangle with one side of unknown length. The shortest side is 3cm long, and the longest side is 5cm long. Calculate the remaining side.

This is a classic question testing your understanding of Pythagoras' Theorem. This is an equation which shows us the relationship between the 3 sides of a right angled triangle : a2 + b2 = c2. a and b are the shorter sides, while c is the longest (the hypotenuse).For this question, we have a and c, but not b. If we subtract a from the left side of the equation and add it to the right side, we have b2 = c2 - a2. Now we can fill in our values: b2 = 52 - 32, or b2 = 16. Now we take the square root of both sides, and find that b = 4cm.

Answered by Sean M. Maths tutor

2284 Views

See similar Maths GCSE tutors

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Prove that the square of an odd number is always 1 more than a multiple of 4


What do I do when quadratic equations aren't written in the standard format ax^2 + bx + c = 0 ?


Solve simultaneously 2x+3y=8, 3x+2y=7 to calculate values of x and y.


Solve the following set of equations. 3x + 2y = 5, 2x + 3y =6


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences