Find the missing length of the triangle
20 cm
12 cm

The shape on the left is a square with side length of 12 cm

This means the height of the triangle is 12cm.

Knowing the height and the hypotenuse using the Pythagorean you can solve for the base.

20^2 = 12^2 + x^2

400 = 144 + x^2

Subtract 144 from both sides:

256 = x^2

Take the square root of both sides

X = sqrt(256)

X = 16

X = 16

example 2 – simplify: step 1: completely factor both the numerators and denominators of all fractions. step 2: change the division sign to a multiplication sign and flip (or reciprocate) the fraction after the division sign; essential you need to multiply by the reciprocal. step 3 : cancel or reduce the fractions.