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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from prateet, a student: the area of an isosceles triangle is 60 sq cm and one of its equal sides is 13 cm. Find the base of the triangle. |
Prateet,
In my diagram D is the midpoint of BC, h is the height of the triangle ABC ad B is half its base, both of these are in centimeters.
Since the area of a triangle is half the base times the height the area of the triangle ABC is b × c square centimeters. Thus
b × c = 60 square centimeters.
Find a second equation relating b and h by using Pythagoras theorem on the right triangle ADC.
Solve the pair of equations for b and h.
Penny
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