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The height of an isosceles triangle is 10 units, and its base is 16 units. Find the length of equal sides.

Question

The height of an isosceles triangle is 10 units, and its base is 16 units. Find the length of equal sides.

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Solution

To find the length of the equal sides of an isosceles triangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. This theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.

In an isosceles triangle, if you draw a line from the top vertex perpendicular to the base, it will bisect the base and form two right triangles.

Here are the steps to find the length of the equal sides:

  1. First, find the length of the base of each right triangle: 16 units / 2 = 8 units.

  2. Then, use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse (which is the length of the equal sides of the isosceles triangle). Let's denote this length as 'a'.

    So, a^2 = 10^2 + 8^2 => a^2 = 100 + 64 => a^2 = 164 => a = sqrt(164) => a = 12.81 units (rounded to two decimal places)

So, the length of the equal sides of the isosceles triangle is approximately 12.81 units.

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