Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 6m more than twice the shortest side. If the third side is 2m less than hypotenuse, find the sides of the triangle.

Answer 1

Let the shortest side = ‘x’ m 

then its hypotenuse = (2x + 6) m 

Third side = 2x + 6 – 2 = (2x + 4) m 

then from Pythagoras theorem, we have

but ‘x’ being the length cannot be negative. 

So x ≠ -2, we consider x = 10 only then the 

shortest side = x = 10m

third side = 2x + 4 = 24 m 

hypotenuse = 2x + 6 = 26m