Question

Reasoning  A rectangle has dimensions 19 in. by 21 and four fifths
in. It is cut along a diagonal. Use pencil and paper. Explain how to find the area of the right triangles formed by cutting the rectangle along a diagonal. Then find the area of one of these triangles.
Question content area bottom
Part 1
The area of one of the right triangles is
  
enter your response here in.squared.

Answer 1

Cutting a rectangle along a diagonal makes two congruent right triangles. Each triangle has legs equal to the rectangle's sides, so its area = (1/2)·base·height.

Base = 19 in, height = 21 4/5 in = 109/5 in.
Area = (1/2)·19·(109/5) = 2071/10 in^2 = 207.1 in^2.