sat suite question viewer
In the right triangle shown, which of the following is closest to the value of ?
Explanation
Choice B is correct. By the Pythagorean theorem, if a right triangle has a hypotenuse with length and legs with lengths and , then . It's given in the right triangle shown that the legs have lengths of and and the hypotenuse has a length of . Substituting for , for , and for in yields , or . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields . Since the length of a side of a triangle must be positive, the value of is , which is approximately equal to . Of the choices, is the closest to the value of .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.
Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.
Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.