Question

A triangular pane of glass has a height of 48 inches and an area of 432 square inches. What is the length of the base of the pane? The length of the base of the pane is inches.

Answer 1

We can express the area of a triangle as half the product of its base and height:

`A=(b\cdot h)/(2)`

Then, we can express the base in function of the known variables (area and height) as:

`\begin{gathered} A=(b\cdot h)/(2) \\ 2A=b\cdot h \\ b=(2A)/(h) \end{gathered}`

We replace with the known values (A=432 sq in, h=48 in) and calculate the base b:

`b=\frac{2\cdot432\text{ in}^2}{48\text{ in}}=18\text{ in}`

Answer: the base is 18 inches.