Question

it says I have to use the Pythagorean theorem and trig to find the perimeter and area. but I don't know how to apply that correctly to get the right answer. help is very appreciated! ​

Answer 1

Let h be the height of the triangle.

Set your calculator to degree mode.

`\tan(71) = (26)/(h)`

`h \tan(71) = 26`

`h = (26)/( \tan(71) ) = 8.9525`

So the area of this triangle is

(1/2)(26)(8.9525) = 116.3827 square feet

The length of the hypotenuse is

`\ \sqrt{ {( (26)/( \tan(71) ) )}^(2) + {26}^(2) }`

`\sqrt{ {8.9525}^(2) + {26}^(2) } = 27.4981`

So the perimeter of this triangle is

8.9525 + 26 + 27.4981 = 62.4506 feet