Question

The larger leg of a right triangle os 3 cm longer than the smaller leg. How many centimeters long is the smaller leg?

Answer 1

You haven't given sufficient information to find the length of the smaller leg in cm.

Explanation:

You have only given 2 pieces of information for the triangle, that they are part of a right triangle, and that the larger leg is 3 cm longer than the smaller. Any value for the smaller leg will, therefore, fit Pythagoras, so there is no definite answer here.

Let the length of the smaller side = `l`
The longer side has a length of `l+3`
Which gives the length of the hypotenus = `sqrt(l^2+(l+3)^2)`
Examples:
Small leg =1 cm -> long leg = 4 cm, hypotenus = `sqrt(1+4^2)=sqrt17` which gives 4.1 cm
Small leg =12 cm -> long leg = 15 cm,
hypotenus = `sqrt(12^2+15^2)` cm = `sqrt369` cm which gives ca. 19 cm