In a right-angled triangle, the legs and hypotenuse are 16 and 20, respectively. Find the other leg of this triangle.

According to the Pythagorean theorem: a ^ 2 + b ^ 2 = c ^ 2 From which it follows that b ^ 2 = c ^ 2-a ^ 2; that is, b = square root of the difference between the square of the hypotenuse “c” and the square of the leg “a”: b = √c ^ 2-a ^ 2 We know the sizes of one leg and the hypotenuse: a = 16; c = 20 Therefore, leg c = √20 ^ 2-16 ^ 2 = √400-256 = √144 = 12
Answer: the other leg of the triangle is 12