Find the Hypotenuse

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is the side that is opposite of its right angle. Sometimes we have problems that ask us to find the missing hypotenuse of a right triangle. We can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse, but only if we know the length measure of the two legs.

The Pythagorean theorem says that if you have a right triangle where you know your two legs and a hypotenuse where the legs are the sides adjacent to your right angle and the hypotenuse is the side that is opposite the right angle, there exists this relationship that if you take one of the legs N squared and if you add it to the other leg, N squared, that's going to equal the square of the hypotenuse.

So if you're trying to solve for one of these variables, you're going to need two of them. And the easiest problem that you're going to see using the Pythagorean theorem is one where you know your two legs and you're trying to find your hypotenuse. The reason why this is the easiest is because all you have to do is substitute in and then you can square it equal C squared and then you're going to have 13 equals C squared and you can take the square root and C equals the square root of 13.

So I didn't have to do any manipulation there. All I had to do was plug in my two legs and then solve for my hypotenuse.