Question

Clint found the area of the parallelogram shown. Which statement explains the error Clint made?

A parallelogram with a base of 11 centimeters, height of 4 centimeters, and side length of 5 centimeters.

Clint’s Work:
A = (b) (h). A = (11) (5). A = 55 centimeters squared.

a.Clint used the wrong units. He should have used cm, as that is what was in the diagram.

b.Clint used the wrong formula. He should have used A = one-half b h.

c.Clint did not use all three numbers in the diagram. He should have multiplied them all.
d.Clint did not use a height perpendicular to the base. He should have used 4 for the height.

Answer 1

D

Explanation:

like it said, he used 5 instead of the actual height which is 4

Answer 2

D

Explanation:

The area of a parallelogram is denoted by:
`A=bh` , where b is the base and h is the height that is perpendicular to the base. Depending on what kind of parallelogram it is (square, rectangle, rhombus, regular parallelogram), that height could be the side length, but usually it is not; it is only the side length in special cases, like a square.

Here, we are given that the base is 11 and that the height is 4. Since the problem gives us two different values for the height versus the side length, we know that for this parallelogram, the height is not the same as the side length. Thus, we must use 4 for the height and 11 for the base in the area formula.

Therefore, the only answer that correctly points out this mistake is D.

Hope this helps!