A right triangle has sides A, B, and C. Side A is the hypotenuse and side B is also a side of a rectangle. Sides A, C, and the side of the rectangle adjacent to side B have lengths of 4 , 6 , and 9 , respectively. What is the rectangle's area?

1 Answer
Alan P.
May 21, 2016

The given configuration can not exist. Please correct and re-submit.

Explanation:

The question claims that side A is the hypotenuse with a length of 4. It is also claimed that side C of the same right triangle has a length of 6.

The length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle must be greater than the length of either of the other sides.

Possible valid respective lengths:
< A, C, "rectangle's side"> =
color(white)("XXX")<6,4,9>, or
color(white)("XXX")<9,6,4>, or
color(white)("XXX")<9,4,6>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steps in solving this type of problem.

  1. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of side B: sqrt(A^2-C^2)
  2. Rectangle's area =B xx "rectangle's side"
Related questions
See all questions in Pythagorean Theorem
Impact of this question
1599 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License