Question

What is the area, in square millimeters, of a right triangle with a hypotenuse of 68 millimeters and a leg of 60 millimeters?

Answer 1

First, we have to solve the sides of the right triangle by using the Pythagorean theorem: a² + b² = c² where c is the length of the hypotenuse. Then, we can use the legs as length and height of the triangle and find the area by 1/2(base x height).

x² + 60² = 68²
x² + 3600 = 4624
x² = 1024
x = √1024
x = 32 = length of the other side

A = (1/2)(32) (60) = 960 mm²