19. The perimeter of a right triangle is and its hypotenuse is . Find the lengths of other two sides of the triangle.
Answer: The lengths of the other two sides of the triangle are and .
Step-by-step solution
Step 1: Express the sides in terms of a single variable
Let the lengths of the two legs of the right triangle be and , and let the hypotenuse be . Since the perimeter is the sum of all 3 sides, we have , which simplifies to . If we let one side be , the other side is .
Step 2: Apply Pythagoras theorem to form a quadratic equation
By Pythagoras theorem, the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of its hypotenuse. Substituting the lengths , , and , we obtain the equation .
Step 3: Expand and simplify into standard quadratic form
Expanding gives . Combining like terms yields . Subtracting from both sides gives , and dividing the entire equation by simplifies it to .
Step 4: Solve the quadratic equation by factorisation
We find two numbers whose sum is and whose product is . These numbers are and . Factoring by grouping gives , which yields the solutions or .
Step 5: State the lengths of the two sides
When one side is , the other side is . Conversely, if one side is , the other is . Hence, the lengths of the other two sides are and .