One leg of a right triangle is 3 millimeters longer than the shorter leg and the hypotenuse is 6 millimeters longer than the shorter leg. find the lengths of the sides of the triangle.
suppose the shorter leg is x, then the longer leg is x+3, and the hypotenuse is x+6 x^2 +(x+3)^2 =(x+6)^2 x^2 + x^2 + 6x +9=x^2 + 12x +36 x^2-6x-27=0 (x+3)(3-9)=0 x=-3, which is impossible, or x=9 so the shorter leg is 9mm, the longer leg is 12mm, and the hypotenuse is 15mm