Question

Find the area of the composite figure(right triangle), where the hypotenuse is 13m, base is 12m and the height is not given?

Answer 1

5^2 + height^2 = 13^2

Answer 2

Can you please explain this to me?

Answer 3

recall that if the legs of a right triangle are a and b, and the hypotenuse is c, then the Pythagorean Theorem states that

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

So, the height of the triangle is 12

There are several commonly used right triangles which you would do well to commit to memory:

3-4-5
5-12-13
7-24-25

and all multiples of them, such as

6-8-10, 9-12-15, ...