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Take B x C to get the area of a sqaure with sides that length and you get 364.5.
The area of the triangle is half that so the answer he is looking for is 182.25 (I don't know if the units of measurement are sq inches, centimeters, or what though.)
You have one of two special geometric triangles, what's called a "45-degree right triangle", so sides A and B are the same length. Since there's a 90-degree angle between them (the sum of all angles in a triangle must equal 180 degrees), the length of either side A or B is equal to side C divided by the square root of 2.
Assuming the square root of 2 is 1.41456 (1.41456 times 1.41456 = 2.0009799936, actually, so it's a little too large an estimate but close enough to 2 for the women I've gone out with), this means sides A and B are each equal to 27 divided by 1.41456 or 19.0872073294 units long. Since this triangle forms 1/2 of a perfect square, if you multiply the length of two sides and divide by 1/2 you'll get the area of the triangle. That is, 19.087207394 times 19.087207394 equals 364.321483635 and then 1/2 of that equals 182.160741817 square units.
When rounded to the nearest 1/1000, it would be 182.161 square units of measure.
Therefore, I agree with the answer given by Gevans17, except he rounded his answer to the nearest whole number, and just left off the decimal places.
My 10th grade geometry teacher would be proud........that was 37 years ago! I think he has an isoscoles triangle there.
An isosceles triangle is a triangle with (at least) two equal sides. In the figure above, the two equal sides have length b, and c and the remaining side has length a. This property is equivalent to two angles of the triangle being equal. An isosceles triangle therefore has both two equal sides and two equal angles. The name derives from the Greek iso (same) and skelos (leg).
You could use Trigonometry as well, (law of sines):
27/sin(90) = "x"/sin(45) ....x being either of the "legs" in this case (because of the 2-45* angles)...opposite, or adjacent.
[27/sin(90)]*sin(45) = "x"
"x"= 19.09
(19.09^2 + 19.09^2)^(1/2) = 27 (just to check your answer)
Area:
1/2*(19.09*19.09) ~ 182.2
Last edited by 53fatfndr; Oct 16, 2007 at 07:44 PM.