The lengths of two sides of a right triangle are 11 inches and 15 inches. To the nearest tenth of an inch, what could the length of the third side of the triangle?

1 Answer
jags
Jun 28, 2016

#18.6# inches in Scenario 1 and #10.2# inches in Scenario 2.

Explanation:

2 scenarios are possible if length of 2 sides of a right triangle are 11 inches and 15 inches. One scenario is hypotenuse is one of the 2 sides provided and another scenario is hypotenuse needs to be determined.

Scenario 1:

The 3rd side to be determined is hypotenuse which is the longest side. In that case, the length of the 3rd side is #sqrt (11^2 + 15^2)# = #sqrt (121 + 225)# = #sqrt (346)# = #18.6# inches

Scenario 2:

The hypotenuse has been provided and it is 15. In this case, the length of the 3rd side is #sqrt (15^2 - 11^2)# = #sqrt (225- 121)# = #sqrt (104)# = #10.2# inches.

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