We have two responses for you

Michael,

First draw a diagram

Then go to the Quandaries and Queries page on Math Central and Use the Quick Search to search for the word Pythagoras. You will see many applications of Pythagoras' Theorem to solve such problems.

Penny

Hi Michael,

In every right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is always equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. This is known as the Pythagorean Theorem and you may have seen it written as:
c^2 = a^2 + b^2
When written in that form, c = length of the hypotenuse
a = length of one of the sides
b = length of the third side

In your question, c = 25, and a = 10. You must solve for b:

25^2 = 10^2 + b^2
625 = 100 + b^2
525 = b^2

At this point we must take the square root of both sides of the equation, keeping only the positive square root and rejecting the negative square root (as length can not be negative).

Therefore b = sqrt(525) = 22.913 (rounded to the nearest thousandth).

Hope this helps,
Leeanne