The height of an equilateral triangle equals the square root of 3 over 2 times the side length. Using 7/4 for the square root of 3, what is the approximate height in meters of an equilateral triangle with a side length of 12 meters?

1 answer

To find the height of an equilateral triangle given the side length, we can use the formula:

\[ \text{Height} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \times \text{side length} \]

In this case, we are given the side length of the triangle as 12 meters, and we will use \( \frac{7}{4} \) as an approximation for \( \sqrt{3} \).

First, we substitute the values into the formula:

\[ \text{Height} = \frac{7}{4} \times \frac{1}{2} \times 12 \]

Calculating \( \frac{1}{2} \times 12 \):

\[ \frac{1}{2} \times 12 = 6 \]

Now substituting back into the height formula:

\[ \text{Height} = \frac{7}{4} \times 6 \]

To compute \( \frac{7}{4} \times 6 \), we can rewrite \( 6 \) as \( \frac{6}{1} \):

\[ \text{Height} = \frac{7 \times 6}{4 \times 1} = \frac{42}{4} \]

Now simplifying \( \frac{42}{4} \):

\[ \frac{42}{4} = 10.5 \]

Therefore, the approximate height of the equilateral triangle with a side length of 12 meters is

\[ \boxed{10.5} \text{ meters}. \]