Thread: Legs Of Right Triangle

How do you know what sides the "legs" are in a triangle. Find the measure of the acute angles given the sides are 24 cm and 18 cm long?

Is it the side opposite the angle?

Originally Posted by topaz192

How do you know what sides the "legs" are in a triangle. Find the measure of the acute angles given the sides are 24 cm and 18 cm long?

Is it the side opposite the angle?

it would be better for you to describe the given sides as "hypotenuse", "opposite" or "adjacent" sides.

we will use trig ratios to find the angle here, we may need Pythagoras' theorem to find the length of the missing side. but so far, i am not sure which sides we are working with

I believe that the side opposite the angle is the hypotnuse(probably spelled wrong). The formula is a^2+b^2=c^2. In this formula a & b are your legs and c is your hypotonuse.

Yeah, I know to use the pythagorean therom, but idk how to determine which is A B or C. All the information that was given to me just said the legs...and idk which one to call the legs. I thought it was the opposite and adjacent or tan..