SOLUTION: what is the area of a triangle with a base = {{{3&5/8}}} and a height = {{{2&1/2}}}

Algebra ->  Formulas -> SOLUTION: what is the area of a triangle with a base = {{{3&5/8}}} and a height = {{{2&1/2}}}      Log On


   

Question 3675: what is the area of a triangle with a base = 3%265%2F8 and a height = 2%261%2F2
Found 2 solutions by Zenock, cleomenius:
Answer by Zenock(15) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
To solve the problem use the formula for area of a triangle...
Area of a triangle:
A=%281%2F2%29b%2Ah
You may have some difficulty here multiplying mixed numbers. The best option is to convert these.
A B/C = %28A%2AC%2BB%29%2FC
so
3 5/8 = %283%2A8%2B5%29%2F8=29%2F8
You can do the same time thing with 2 1/2.
For example:
Same problem different numbers...
what is the area of a triangle with a base = 4 3/8 and a height = 3 1/2
b=4%263%2F8+=%284%2A8%2B3%29%2F8=35%2F8%29
h=3%261%2F2+=%283%2A2%2B1%29%2F2=7%2F2%29
A=%281%2F2%29b%2Ah=%281%2F2%29%2835%2F8%29%287%2F2%29=245%2F32
You can leave it in this form or if you need to make it back into a mixed number:
32 goes into 245 7 times with a remainder of 21. So the answer is 7 21/32.


There are other ways to do this problem as well.
For instance... we could make the mixed fractions into an addition problems as so...
4 3/8 = (4+3/8)
3 1/2 = (3+1/2)
and then do the following

9%2F8+=+8%2F8%2B1%2F8=1%2B1%2F8 and 1%2F8=2%2F16 so 9%2F8=1%2B2%2F16
So:

15%2F2=14%2F2%2B1%2F2=7%2B1%2F2 and 1%2F2=16%2F32 so 15%2F2=7%2B16%2F32
So:
15%2F2%2B5%2F32=%287%2B16%2F32%29%2B5%2F32=7%2B21%2F32
Which is 7 21/32.
Pointless but might give some understanding.

Answer by cleomenius(959) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
It is a good idea to convert your fractions to a more workable form:
3 5/8 = 29/8
2 1/2 = 5/2
1/2(29/8 * 5/2) = 1/2 (145/ 16) = 145/32
This works out to 4 and 17/32, our answer.
cleomenius