SAT Right triangles and trigonometry Practice Question 2 (Easy)

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Question bank / Right triangles and trigonometry

Math · Geometry and TrigonometryEasy

A right triangle has legs of length $8$ and $15$ . What is the length of the hypotenuse?

$13$

$17$

$23$

$\sqrt{161}$

Show answer and explanation

Answer: B

By the Pythagorean theorem, $c^2 = 8^2 + 15^2 = 64 + 225 = 289$ . So $c = \sqrt{289} = 17$ .

Choice D comes from subtracting the squares ( $225 - 64 = 161$ ), which would find a leg rather than the hypotenuse.

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