The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 5 inches long. One of the legs is 1 inch longer than the other. What is the length (in inches) of the longer leg?

 4  inches

Step-by-step explanation:

1. We gonna find the the length of the right triangle legs using Phitagor theorem.

c²=a²+b²  (1)   , where c is triangle's  hypotenuse

a and b are the triangle's  legs.

Let the leg a =x,    so leg b=x+1 inches

Now we can write the equation using (1)

25=x²+(x+1)²

25=x²+x²+2*x+1

2*x²+2*x-24=0     ( divide by 2 both sides of the equation)

x²+x-12=0

Find the discriminant D=1+12*4=49

√D=7

x1= (-1+7)/2=3     x2=(-1-7)/2=-4 - x2=-4 not possible so length of the leg can not be negative.

So the shorter leg a=x= 3 inches

The longer leg b=x+1=4 inches

4 + 5 7/9= 9 7/9

step-by-step explanation: