The Solution:
Representing the problem in a diagram:
We are asked to find the length a.
Applying the Pythagorean Theorem, we get
[tex]\begin{gathered} a^2+24^2=25^2 \\ a^2=25^2-24^2 \\ a^2=625-576 \\ a^2=49 \end{gathered}[/tex]Taking the square root of both sides, we get
[tex]\begin{gathered} a=\sqrt{49} \\ a=\pm7 \\ \text{ But since }a\text{ cannot be a negative value, we have that} \\ a=7 \end{gathered}[/tex]Therefore, the correct answer is 7
