Question

The altitude of a right triangle is 7 cm less than its base. If the hypotenuse is 13 cm, find the other two sides.

Answer 1

Let the base of the right triangle be x cm.

Its altitude = (x − 7) cm

Either x − 12 = 0 or x + 5 = 0, i.e., x = 12 or x = −5

Since sides are positive, x can only be 12.

Therefore, the base of the given triangle is 12 cm and the altitude of this triangle will be (12 − 7) cm = 5 cm.