SOLUTION: How do I find the area of an isosceles triangle whose leg lengths are 8, but the base is unknown ? In advance, thank you.

Question 402974: How do I find the area of an isosceles triangle whose leg lengths are 8, but the base is unknown ? In advance, thank you.
Found 2 solutions by stanbon, jim_thompson5910:
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
How do I find the area of an isosceles triangle whose leg lengths are 8, but the base is unknown ?
-----
You don't. That is not enough information.
Cheers,
Stan H.
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Do you know the height (ie the length that's perpendicular to the unknown base)? If you knew that value, you can easily find half the base (which can be doubled to get the base).

Say that half the base is equal to 'x' and the height is 'h'.

By the pythagorean theorem, we can say or . Draw a picture so you can see what's going on.

Now solve for x to get (note: we're only considering positive numbers)

Now multiply both sides by 2 to get the length of the entire base

So the base is units. From here, just plug in the given height (if there is one) 'h' to evaluate the expression.

Once you've finally figured out the base, you can use that and the height to compute the area.
RELATED QUESTIONS
The lengths of the base and a leg of an isosceles triangle are in the ratio of 3:2. the... (answered by Fombitz)
How do I find the length of the base of an isosceles triangle? The leg lengths are 1210... (answered by stanbon)
Find the area which is the difference between the area of a smaller isosceles trapezoid... (answered by ikleyn)
The base of an isosceles triangle is 12 cm longer than each of its equal legs. a second... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
How do you use angles to find the missing lengths of a triangle? I know that there... (answered by Fombitz)
2 isosceles triangles have legs that are 26 and areas that are equal. If the base of one... (answered by ewatrrr)
if the area of an isosceles triangle is 20 square feet, how do you find the base and... (answered by ikleyn)
the base of an isosceles triangle and one of its legs have lengths that are consecutive... (answered by checkley71)
Please help me solve this: Find the formula for the area of an isosceles right triangle... (answered by Earlsdon)