The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 25 cm long. One leg of the same triangle is 7 cm long. What is the length of the other leg? Explain how you found your answer.
Use Pythagorean theorem.
7^2 + x^2 = 25^2
Solve for x.
To find the length of the other leg of the right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides (the legs).
In this case, we are given that the hypotenuse is 25 cm long, and one leg is 7 cm long. Let's call the length of the other leg "x".
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can write the equation as:
25^2 = 7^2 + x^2
Simplifying this equation, we have:
625 = 49 + x^2
Subtracting 49 from both sides:
576 = x^2
To solve for x, we take the square root of both sides:
√576 = √x^2
This gives us:
24 = x
Therefore, the length of the other leg is 24 cm.
So, I found the answer by using the Pythagorean theorem and solving the resulting equation.