Find the length of a side of a rhombus whose diagonals are 6cm and 8cm
Answer Details
Let's call the length of one side of the rhombus "s".
We know that the diagonals of a rhombus bisect each other at 90 degrees, which means that each diagonal cuts the rhombus into two congruent right triangles. If we take one of these triangles and drop a perpendicular from the corner to the midpoint of the opposite side, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of "s".
The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In this case, the hypotenuse is one of the diagonals, and the other two sides are half of "s" and half of the other diagonal. So, we have:
(1/2)^2 * 6^2 + (1/2)^2 * 8^2 = s^2
Simplifying this expression, we find:
9 + 16 = s^2
25 = s^2
And finally, taking the square root of both sides:
s = 5
So, the length of one side of the rhombus is 5cm.