To find the length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle, we use the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the hypotenuse (c) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (a and b). In this case, the legs of the triangle are 8 units and 15 units.
We can express this mathematically as:
c² = a² + b²
Substituting in the values for a and b:
c² = 8² + 15²
Calculating the squares:
c² = 64 + 225
c² = 289
To find c, we take the square root of both sides:
c = √289
c = 17
Therefore, the length of the hypotenuse is 17 units.