Question #N100
A right triangle has legs of length 5 and 12. What is the length of the hypotenuse?
A. 7
B. 13
C. 17
D. 25
Correct Answer is: B
The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs. In this case, the hypotenuse squared is equal to $5^2 + 12^2 = 25 + 144 = 169$. The square root of 169 is 13, so the length of the hypotenuse is 13.