Using the Pythagorean Theorem: The Perimeter of a Triangle

Look at the triangle in the figure.

What is its perimeter?

In order to find the perimeter of a triangle, we first need to find all of its sides.

Two sides have already been given leaving only one remaining side to find.

We can use the Pythagorean Theorem.
$AB^2+BC^2=AC^2$
We insert all of the known data:

$AC^2=7^2+3^2$
$AC^2=49+9=58$
We extract the square root:

$AC=\sqrt{58}$
Now that we have all of the sides, we can add them up and thus find the perimeter:
$\sqrt{58}+7+3=\sqrt{58}+10$

$10+\sqrt{58}$ cm

Look at the triangle in the figure.

What is the length of the hypotenuse given that its perimeter is $12+4\sqrt{5}$ cm?

We calculate the perimeter of the triangle:

$12+4\sqrt{5}=4+AC+BC$

As we want to find the hypotenuse (BC), we isolate it:

$12+4\sqrt{5}-4-AC=BC$

$BC=8+4\sqrt{5}-AC$

Then calculate AC using the Pythagorean theorem:

$AB^2+AC^2=BC^2$

$4^2+AC^2=(8+4\sqrt{5}-AC)^2$

$16+AC^2=(8+4\sqrt{5})^2-2\times AC(8+4\sqrt{5})+AC^2$

We then simplify the two:$AC^2$

$16=8^2+2\times8\times4\sqrt{5}+(4\sqrt{5})^2-2\times8\times AC-2AC4\sqrt{5}$

$16=64+64\sqrt{5}+16\times5-16AC-8\sqrt{5}AC$

$16AC+8\sqrt{5}AC=64+64\sqrt{5}+16\times5-16$

$AC(16+8\sqrt{5})=128+64\sqrt{5}$

$AC=\frac{128+64\sqrt{5}}{16+8\sqrt{5}}=\frac{8(16+8\sqrt{5})}{16+8\sqrt{5}}$

We simplify to obtain:

$AC=8$

Now we can replace AC with the value we found for BC:

$BC=8+4\sqrt{5}-AC$

$BC=8+4\sqrt{5}-8=4\sqrt{5}$

$4\sqrt{5}$ cm

The perimeter of a triangle is 12 cm.

What are the lengths of its legs?

3 cm, 4 cm