Thread: Right Triangle problem

Hi, I've been working on this problem for a while now and can't seem to figure it out. I know the right answer but I'm having problems getting to it on my own.

Here's the problem: "Find the length of the shorter leg of a right triangle if the longer leg is 3cm more than the shorter leg and the hypotenuse is 6cm more than the shorter leg."

Here is the what I have so far, I know the answer is 9cm but I cannot figure out how they got to that.

Shorter leg = x, longer leg = x+3, hypotenuse = x+6. Using a² + b² = c² I get x² + (x+3)² = (x+6)²

x² + x² + 9 = x² + 36

2x² + 9 = x² + 36
-9 - 9
2x² = x² + 27
-x² -x²

x² = 27 ??????

You are correct until the I think maybe you distributed wrong.

Here,

Thank you very much!! I knew that too, I can't believe I did that.