Question

Error Analysis  Kenny found the area of the shaded triangle by composing it into a parallelogram. Kenny found the area to be 432 cm squared. What is the correct area of the shaded​ triangle? What was Kenny​'s ​error?
32 cm
27 cm
24 cm
Question content area bottom
Part 1
The correct area of the shaded triangle is
  
enter your response here cm squared.

Answer 1

I don't have the diagram, so I can't be sure which lengths are base/height. Can you upload the figure or tell me which side is the base and what the perpendicular height is?

A few likely scenarios and the corresponding errors:

- If Kenny got 432 by computing (32 × 27) / 2, then he treated the side of length 27 as the altitude to the base 32. That is wrong unless the side 27 is perpendicular to the base. If the true altitude to the 32-cm base is 24 cm, the correct area is (32 × 24) / 2 = 384 cm² and his error was using a non‑perpendicular side as the height.

- If Kenny formed a parallelogram from two congruent triangles and then forgot to take half of the parallelogram area, his answer 432 would be twice the correct triangle area; the correct area would be 432 / 2 = 216 cm². His error would be failing to divide the parallelogram area by 2.

- If only the three side lengths 24, 27, 32 are given (no height), use Heron's formula. For 24, 27, 32 the area ≈ 316.3 cm²; the error in that case would be composing into a parallelogram that is not congruent to the triangle.

Tell me which case matches the diagram (or share the diagram) and I will give the exact correct area and a clear statement of Kenny's error.