The diagonal brace of a shipping crate is 53 inches. The length of the shipping crate is 45 inches. Find the height of the shipping crate.

if i would use a^2+b^2=c^2

would it be 53^2+45^2=c^2

is this right

That can't be right because the height would be longer than the diagonal brace.

You're correct in using the Pythagorean Theorem, but let
a = height
b = length
c = diagonal

so would i set it up as

45^2 + 53^2 = H^2?

not sure then how to set up, been working on this one awhile now.

a^2 + 45^2 = 53^2

a^2 + 2025 = 2809
a^2 = 784
a = 28

Thank you!

You're welcome.

Yes, you are correct. To find the height of the shipping crate, you can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (c) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (a and b).

In this case, you have the length (45 inches) and the diagonal brace (53 inches) as the two sides of the triangle. So, you can use the formula:

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

Substituting the given values, you get:

45^2 + b^2 = 53^2

Simplifying further:

2025 + b^2 = 2809

To solve for the height (b), you can subtract 2025 from both sides:

b^2 = 2809 - 2025

b^2 = 784

Taking the square root of both sides, you get:

b = √784

b = 28

Therefore, the height of the shipping crate is 28 inches.