High School

A flag is in the shape of a 30-60-90 triangle. The shorter leg has a length of 10 inches. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

A. 17.3 inches
B. 20 inches
C. 10 inches
D. 36.6 inches

Answer :

[tex] \frac{shorter leg}{hypotenuse}[/tex] = sin(30) = cos(60)

Luckily 30° and 60° are nice angles and [tex]sin(30) = cos(60) = \frac{1}{2} [/tex]

[tex] \frac{shorter leg}{hypotenuse} = \frac{1}{2} [/tex]

We can rearrange the equation to give

[tex]hypotenuse = 2(shorter leg)[/tex]
[tex]hypotenuse = 2(10)[/tex]

Hypotenuse = B, 20 inches

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