Question

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16 km
12 km
what is the length of the hypotenuse? if necessary, round to the nearest tenth.
c = kilometers
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work it out

Explanation:

Step1: Apply Pythagorean theorem

For a right triangle, the Pythagorean theorem is \(a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}\), where \(a = 12\), \(b = 16\), and \(c\) is the hypotenuse. So we calculate \(12^{2}+16^{2}\).
\(12^{2}=144\), \(16^{2}=256\), then \(144 + 256=400\).

Step2: Solve for \(c\)

We have \(c^{2}=400\), take the square root of both sides: \(c=\sqrt{400} = 20\) (since length can't be negative, we take the positive square root).

Answer:

20