What are two different ways you could find the value of a? Explain these methods. A right triangle is shown. An altitude is drawn from the right angle to the opposite side to form 2 line segments with lengths 9 and 16. The length of the other 2 sides are 15 and a.

Sample Response: You could use the Pythagorean theorem, since you know the length of the hypotenuse is 9 + 16 = 25 units and the length of one leg is 15 units. To find the value of a, use the relationship that the the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs. You could also use the geometric mean (leg) theorem, which states that the length of the hypotenuse is to the length of an adjacent leg as that adjacent leg length is to the length of its corresponding segment in the hypotenuse. So you could write and solve the proportion 25/a = a/6.

Explanation:

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