jmc

Question

A right triangle has leg lengths of 7 and 24 units. A second triangle is similar to the first triangle and has a hypotenuse of 100 units. What is the length, in units, of the shorter leg of the second triangle?

Accepted Answer

7^2+24^2=625=25^2, so the hypotenuse is 25. 100 is 4 times this, so the shorter leg of the second triangle is 4 times the shorter leg of the original triangle, or 4(7)=28.