Friday, May 21, 2010

How do I find C?

there is a triangle, side A is 12mi and side B is 16mi. how do you find the length of side c?

How do I find C?
You would need a bit more information, like whether this is a right triangle, and which of the angles is the right angle.





If we assume that it's a right triangle with legs A and B, the hypotenuse C would be 20, since 12² + 16² = 20².
Reply:You need one more information like it could be


1) perimeter


or


2)type of triangle like right angle triangle, isoscelene trinagle etc.


or


3) one of the angles.


or something like these defining characteristics of the given triangle.
Reply:You use the pythagoreon theorem.





a squared + b squared = c squared





so if side a and side b are the shorter lenths then you square them both and add them to get C squared. Then you find the square root of that number.
Reply:square 12 and 16 and add them and take the square root of that. 12 times 12 is 144. and 16 itmes 16 is 256 add it and you get 400 take square root of 400 and you get 20. so C is 20
Reply:umm wouldnt you have to know the perimeter of the whole triangle first?? idk
Reply:Tasty is right, you need to know how side A and side B is related to side C.





If A and B are the two adjacent sides, then C is the hypotenuse.





In any case, you are going to end up using the pythagorean theorem.





It is important to be specific with terms especially in math.
Reply:Sounds like a law of sines problem, since you can't automatically assume that it's a right triangle.





However, you may not have gotten to that, in which case, sorry!

ovary

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