The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 13 cm. One of the legs is 7 cm longer than the other. How do you find the area of the triangle?
1 Answer
Dec 27, 2015
Draw a diagram to represent the question:
Explanation:
Assuming x represents the length of the first side.
Use pythagorean theorem to solve:
Solve the quadratic equation using the quadratic formula.
At the end, you will get side lengths of #(-14 ± 34) / 4, or -12 and 5
SInce a negative triangle length is impossible, 5 is the value of x and 5 + 7 is the value of x + 7, which makes 12.
The formula for area of a right triangle is A =
A =
A=
A =