When we know the lengths of 2 sides of a right triangle, we can calculate the length of the third.
In this case, we know the length of the two legs, so we can write:
[tex]\begin{gathered} a^2+b^2=c^2 \\ 8^2+15^2=c^2 \\ 64+225=c^2 \\ c^2=289 \\ c=\sqrt[]{289} \\ c=17 \end{gathered}[/tex]Answer: the hypotenuse length is 17 cm.
