One angle is a right angle.

The lengths of the 2 sides adjacent to the right angle are as follows:

3

5

A note indies the figure is not drawn to scale.

Question

The figure shows the lengths, in inches, of two sides of a right triangle. What is the area of the triangle, in square inches?

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is 15 2 . The area, A , of a triangle is given by the formula A = 1 2 b h , where b is the length of the base of the triangle and h is the height of the triangle. In the right triangle shown, the length of the base of the triangle is 5 inches, and the height is 3 inches. It follows that b = 5 and h = 3 . Substituting 5 for b and 3 for h in the formula A = 1 2 b h yields A = 1 2 5 3 , which is equivalent to A = 1 2 15 , or A = 15 2 . Therefore, the area of the triangle, in square inches, is 15 2 . Note that 15/2 and 7.5 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.

Question d341e9