Question

The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 17 cm long. If one of the remaining two sides is of length 8 cm, find the length of the third side.

Answer 1

${x}^{2} + \: {8}^{2} = {17}^{2} \\ {x}^{2} = {17}^{2} - {8}^{2} \\ {x}^{2} = (17 - 8)(17 + 8) \\ {x}^{2} = 9 \times 25 \\ {x} = \sqrt{ {3}^{2} \times {5}^{2} } \\ x = 15 \: cm$