Use the image to answer the question.

Question

An illustration shows an obtuse triangle with a base of 9 centimeters. The perpendicular height on the right is marked by a dashed line drawn from the top vertex to an extended dashed line from the base labeled as 7 centimeters. A right angle symbol is shown where the base and height meet at the dashed lines.

What is the area in square centimeters of the triangle pictured here? Express your answer as a decimal rounded to the nearest tenth. (1 point)

Answer 1

To find the area of the triangle, we can use the formula for the area of a triangle:

\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \]

From the information given:

• The base of the triangle is \(9\) centimeters.
• The height of the triangle is \(7\) centimeters.

Substituting these values into the formula:

\[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 9 \times 7 \]

Calculating this step-by-step:

1. Calculate \(9 \times 7 = 63\).
2. Then, take half of \(63\):

\[ \text{Area} = \frac{63}{2} = 31.5 \]

Therefore, the area of the triangle is

\[ \boxed{31.5} \text{ square centimeters.} \]