Question one-an

4.4 Area and Volume - Area of polygons and composite shapes
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  • 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.

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

Enter your answer:

One angle is a right angle. The lengths of the 2 sides adjacent to the right

Hard-difficulty · SAT Math · Area and Volume — Area of polygons and composite shapes. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is 15 2 . The area, A , of a triangle is given by the formula A=12bh, 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=12bh yields A=1253, which is equivalent to A=1215, 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.