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A straight slide in a playground design makes an isosceles triangle with the

ground and its platform, with area 32 square feet. What is the length of the slide?

A 412 feet 32 © 8/2 feet 126

B 8 feet 6

0 16 feet 256

1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

Option D.

Explanation:

  • First, the you need ti understand that the triangle is an isosceles right angled triangle. In other words, the base and height are equal in length. The third side is the slide. This is the longest side.
  • Next, we know that the formula for calculating the area of a right angled triangle is given by:

A = 1/2 (base × perpendicular height)

  • The perpendicular height is equal to the base. Let's say the base is x. It means that the height is also x, since height = base.
  • Therefore, the formula will be:

A = 1/2 (x.x)

=1/2 (x²)

32 = 1/2 (x²)

Multiplying both sides by 2 gives:

32×2 = x²

64 = x²

8 = x

To find the third side, we use the Pythagoras theorem:

C² = A² + B²

= 8² + 8²

= 128

C = √128

= 8√2

However, the answer will not be exact, so we multiply the length of the base and height by 2. This gives x = 16 (Length of base = length of height)

Repeating the steps above gives C = √ (16)² + (16)²

= √256

This corresponds to option D.

User Hotaka
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