To find the length of the diagonal of a rectangle, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. This theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the diagonal, in this case) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
In our case, the sides of the rectangle are 5 cm and 12 cm. We will call the length of the diagonal ‘d’. The formula to calculate the diagonal is:
d = √(length² + width²)
Substituting the values:
d = √(5² + 12²)
d = √(25 + 144)
d = √169
d = 13 cm
Therefore, the length of the diagonal of the rectangle is 13 cm.