Question

The length of one leg of a right triangle is 3 inches more than the other. if the length of the hypotenuse is 15 inches, write down what are the lengths of the two legs?

Answer 1

Let one side be x. Other side is x + 3. We have,
${x}^{2} + {(x + 3)}^{2} = {15}^{2} \\ simplifying \\ {x}^{2} + 3x - 108 = 0 \\ (x + 12)(x - 9) = 0 \\ so \: \: x = 9$
Thus the two sides are 3 and 12