sandy wrote:
Attachment:
Capture.JPG
What is the area of right triangle ABC?
While we COULD use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of side AB (e.g., 12² + x² = 13²), however if we've memorized some Pythagorean triplets, we can solve this question in a matter of seconds.
ASIDE: Pythagorean triplets are
integer values that could represent the lengths of a right triangle.
The two most common Pythagorean triples are:
3-4-5
5-12-13
Two more include:
7-24-25
8-15-17
In the above diagram, we can see that we're given two lengths of a 5-12-13 right triangle.
This means side AB = 5
Area of triangle = (base)(height)/2
= (12)(5)/2
= 30
Answer: 30
Cheers,
Brent