In squaring corners, you measure one side a 12 and the other side as 16. Whats the length of the diagonal between these two sides? A. 8 B. 32 C. 3 D. 20
Advanced Placement (AP) · High School · Sun Jan 24 2021
Answered on
In this case, the two sides are 12 and 16. We can label them as the base (12) and the height (16) of the right triangle. The diagonal represents the hypotenuse.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can calculate the length of the diagonal:
Diagonal^2 = base^2 + height^2
Diagonal^2 = 12^2 + 16^2
Diagonal^2 = 144 + 256
Diagonal^2 = 400
To find the length of the diagonal, we need to take the square root of both sides of the equation:
√(Diagonal^2) = √400
Diagonal = 20
Therefore, the length of the diagonal between the two sides is 20. So, the correct answer is D.