Problem 170
The shorter leg of a 30°–60°–90° triangle is 10. What are the lengths of the longer leg and the hypotenuse, to the nearest tenth?
Solution
The length of the hypotenuse of any 30°–60°–90° triangle is two times the
length ofthe shorter leg. The length of the longer
leg is the length of the shorter leg times √3.
So hypotenuse= 2*(shorter leg length)
= 2(10) = 20
Length of longer leg=√3 (shorter leg length)
= √3 (10) = (1.73)(10) = 17.3