SOLUTION: Riley needs to find the area of a right triangle. He knows that one side is 3 cm and the other side is 5 cm, but he does not know the length of the hypotenuse. What is the area of

Question 1127586: Riley needs to find the area of a right triangle. He knows that one side is 3 cm and the other side is 5 cm, but he does not know the length of the hypotenuse. What is the area of the triangle?
Why is the answer 17?
Answer by greenestamps(13367) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The answer (area of the triangle) is NOT 17.

The problem says he doesn't know the length of the hypotenuse; that means the 3cm and 5cm are the lengths of the legs. The area of the triangle is then one-half the product of the lengths of the two legs.

A = (1/2)(3)(5) = 15/2 or 7.5cm^2
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