Question

If an equilateral triangle has a height of 8 metres find the length of each side. Round your answer to 2 decimal places.

Answer 1

9.24 m to 2 DP's.

Explanation:

Consider the right triangle formed from a side , altitude and 1/2 the base.

By pythagoras:

x^2 = 8^2 + (0.5x)^2 where x is the length of each side.

x^2 - 0.25x^2 = 64

0.75x^2 = 64

x^2 = 64/0.75 = 85.3333.

x = 9.2376 m.