Use the image to answer the question.

A triangle is graphed by joining three plotted points on a coordinate plane. The x-axis ranges from negative 6 to 10 in increments of 2 and the y-axis ranges from negative 4 to 10 in increments of 2.

Amaury draws an acute triangle on the coordinate grid. He finds the area of the triangle by drawing a rectangle that circumscribes the triangle and forming right triangles. How can Amaury find the area of the triangle? What is the area of the triangle in square units?

(4 points)

1 answer

Amaury can find the area of the triangle by using the formula for the area of a rectangle which is length times width.

Since the rectangle circumscribes the triangle, the length of the rectangle is equal to the base of the triangle and the width of the rectangle is equal to the height of the triangle.

To find the base of the triangle, Amaury can subtract the x-coordinates of two of the plotted points. To find the height of the triangle, he can subtract the y-coordinate of one of the plotted points from the y-coordinate of the other plotted point.

After finding the base and height, Amaury can multiply them to find the area of the rectangle, which is also the area of the triangle.

In the given image, the base of the triangle is 8 units (10 - (-2)) and the height of the triangle is 10 units (10 - 0).

Therefore, the area of the triangle is 8 units times 10 units, which equals 80 square units.