How do you find the hypotenuse of a right triangle?

Answer 1

It is the longest side, directly across from the right angle. You can calculate it knowing a side and an angle (which gives you both non-right angles) or more typically by using the Pythagorean Theorem, which gives the formula

a2 + b2 = c2 where a and b are the sides and c the hypotenuse.

Example : A right triangle with sides adjacent to the right angle of 3 and 4 has a hypotenuse length of 5, because 32 + 42 = 52.

To Find The Hypotenuse Length

Given the lengths of the other two sides, a and b, square each of them, add them together, and take the square root of the result.

Example : a right triangle with the two sides of length 9 and 12.

(9)2 + (12)2 = c2 (c is the hypotenuse length)

81 + 144 = c2 therefore 225 = c2 and c = 15, the hypotenuse
Usually you would use Pythagoras' Theorem: a2 + b2 = c2, where c is the hypothenuse.