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What is the area of the following right triangle?

What is the area of the following right triangle?-example-1
User Mkmitchell
by
5.0k points

2 Answers

3 votes

Answer:

30 sq units

Explanation:

User Boxmein
by
5.8k points
0 votes

Answer:

30 square units

Explanation:

The area of the given right triangle can be found a couple of ways:

Pythagorean theorem

The missing side length can be found using the Pythagorean theorem relation between the sides:

c² = a² +b²

13² = a² +5²

a² = 169 -25 = 144

a = √144 = 12

Then the area is ...

A = 1/2ab = 1/2(12)(5) = 30 . . . square units

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Trigonometry

The angle at lower right can be found from the trig relation ...

Cos = Adjacent/Hypotenuse

cos(A) = 5/13

A = arccos(5/13) ≈ 67.38°

The area can be found from these side lengths and the angle:

A = 1/2bc·sin(A)

A = 1/2(5)(13)sin(67.38°) = 30 . . . square units

_____

Additional comment

The sine of the angle can be computed from the cosine using the identity ...

sin(x) = √(1 -cos²(x))

In this case, the sine of the angle would be found to be 12/13, so the area would be computed as ...

A = 1/2(5)(13)(12/13) = 1/2(12)(5) . . . . same as using the Pythagorean theorem

User Andre Knob
by
5.2k points
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