One leg of a right triangle is 6 ft long. The hypotenuse is 12 ft long. What is the length of the second leg of the triangle? Round to the nearest tenth.
Let's call the length of the second leg of the triangle "x".
According to the Pythagorean theorem, in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
In this case, the length of one leg is 6 ft and the length of the hypotenuse is 12 ft.
So, the formula for the Pythagorean theorem can be written as:
(6)^2 + x^2 = (12)^2
Simplifying this equation gives:
36 + x^2 = 144
Subtracting 36 from both sides, we get:
x^2 = 108
Taking the square root of both sides, we get:
x = √108
x ≈ 10.4
Rounding to the nearest tenth gives the length of the second leg of the triangle as 10.4 ft. Answer: \boxed{10.4}.