Naming the sides
A gate frame has a bar cut on a slant. Which side of the triangle is that bar?
Step 1 of 4
- A right-angled triangle.
- Mark the right angle.
- The side across from it is the longest.
- Its name: the hypotenuse.
That bar is the longest side. It is across from the square corner, the 90° corner.
Rule: a right-angled triangle's longest side is across from the square corner. That side is the hypotenuse. The other two sides form the square corner.
Take a right-angled triangle with sides 3, 4 and 5. The 3 and the 4 meet at the square corner. Then the 5 is across from that corner. So the 5 is the hypotenuse.
Watch out!
The long side is not "the one lying flat at the bottom." Turn the page a quarter turn. The bottom changes. Find the square corner. The hypotenuse is still the side across from it.
Turn the triangle. Pick the side across from the square corner.
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