4
Multiply the side length by √2. Once you have the length of one of the square's sides, it's possible to find the length of the diagonal by multiplying the length of the side by the square root of 2. √2 is approximately 1.41421356. Congratulations - you've just found the length of your square's diagonal!- Let's complete our example problem. We now know the length of of square's sides is 5 cm, so let's multiply 5 by √2 to find the length of the diagonal. 5 × √2 = 7.07 cm. Don't forget to label your answer with the same units as the side length is expressed in.
- This method works because of the Pythagorean Theorem, which relates the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle to the lengths of its sides. For a more thorough explanation, see the section below.
- Lets say you don't have the side measurement-so the formula is D= S x √2
- to determine the S measurement where S stands for side and D stands for diagonal
- So: D/√2 = S or D/1.42 = S
borrowed from; www.wikihow.com
I find the long 1.4121356 confusing so I have simplified the formula to dividing the diagonal measure of the monitor by 1.42. Once you achieve the answer you will have 2 equal sides estimated to multiply together to achieve the area as well double checking the diagonal. This was closer to the correct size than rounding to 1.41. Now, most monitors as well as flat screen televisions have a little more width than height so I have found that adding about 1.5 to you answer for the width and subtracting 1.5 for the height will tell you what your new screen will appear like. You could also subtract 1 inch from the height and add 2 inches to the width if you think it matches your dimensions best. This is a pretty good and easy way to estimate those confusing diagonal measurements and turn them into height by width measurements. After different combinations that add up to 3 or maybe 4.5 you lose the aspect ratio, so 3-4.5 is the range to experiment with when getting you rectangular height by width estimate.
