Hi Kevin,

The subject line of your email said "classifying triangles for grade 6" so I think what you are to do is decide if the triangle is acute, obtuse or a right triangle.

You have two short sides and a long side so the question is, do the three sides fit together to form

a right triangle with the long side the hypotenuse,

or is the long side too short to form a right triangle and the triangle is acute

or is the long side too long and the triangle is hence obtuse?

You can use Pythagoras' theorem to decide. If a right triangle has legs of length 8 ft and 9.5 ft what does Pythagoras' theorem tell you is the length of the hypotenuse? Is it 12 ft? Is it less than 12 ft? Is it greater than 12 ft?

Penny