Question

An isosceles triangle has two congruent side lengths of 20 inches.

The base of the triangle has a length of 32 inches. What is the height of the
triangle?
12 inches
10 inches
15 inches

Answer 1

h = 12

Explanation:

We can use the Pythagorean theorem

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

The legs are 32/2 = 16 and the height h

The hypotenuse is 20

16^2 + h^2 = 20^2

256 + h^2 = 400

h^2 = 400-256

h^2 = 144

Taking the square root of each side

h = sqrt(144)

h =12