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Here’s a shmoopy question for you…

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Pythagoras has graciously allowed us to use his theorem royalty-free…

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…but only if we can solve the below problem.

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The two legs of a right triangle are eight inches and x inches long.

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If the hypotenuse has a length of (x + 2) inches, find x.

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And here are the potential answers...

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This question is testing our recollection of the Pythagorean Theorem.

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A squared plus B squared equals C squared. So in this example, a is 8, b is x and c – because

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it’s across the right angle part, is the hypotenuse.

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C is x plus 2. So the relevant equation looks like this:

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And we get 64 plus x squared equals x squared plus 4x plus 4 which reduces to 64 equals

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4x plus 4 when we subtract x squared from both sides.

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Get rid of the 4 and we have 4x equals 60 or x equals 15.

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Answer C. As in… “Cheapskate.”

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