Find the leg of a right-angled triangle if the hypotenuse is 5 cm and the large leg is 4 cm.

From the condition, we know the length of the hypotenuse and the largest of the legs, respectively, 5 cm and 4 cm.

In order to find the length of the second leg, we will use the Pythagorean theorem.

She says that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs.

Using the formula, it looks like this:

a ^ 2 + b ^ 2 = c ^ 2.

Let’s denote by variable x one of the legs and substitute all known values into the formula:

4 ^ 2 + x ^ 2 = 5 ^ 2;

16 + x ^ 2 = 25;

x ^ 2 = 25 – 16;

x ^ 2 = 9;

x = 3.

So, the length of the second leg is 3 cm.

Answer: 3 cm is the length of the smaller leg.