Question

What is the value of b in the triangle shown below? A right triangle is shown. The left leg equals 3 b. The lower leg equal b. The area of the triangle equals 24 square inches. -4 4 -+4 or none

Answer 1

b=4

Explanation:

A = 1/2 b*h

24 = 1/2 b* (3b)

combine like terms

24 = 1/2 *3 * b^2

24 = 3/2 b^2

multiply by 2/3 on each side

24 * 2/3 = 2/3 * 3/2 * b^2

16 = b^2

take the square root of each side

±sqrt(16) = sqrt(b)

±4 =b

but since b is a length it can only be positive

4 =b