Finding the Area of a Triangle

[cruxxfay]

Thank you for your time, I just need some guidance/hints on this. It is a right angled triangle with the height being 3.7 cm and a length of the base being 3.5 cm. I tried to construct another triangle on top of the 3.5 cm length in an attempt to find the base length and failed. Not quite sure where to start.

[stapel_eliz]

Thank you for your time, I just need some guidance/hints on this. It is a right angled triangle with the height being 3.7 cm and a length of the base being 3.5 cm. I tried to construct another triangle on top of the 3.5 cm length in an attempt to find the base length and failed. Not quite sure where to start.

As posted, the base of the right triangle is not given; the picture shows the base of the secondary triangle, the one "attached" to the right of the right triangle, as being 3.5 cm.

Please provide the exact text of (or graphic for?) the exercise. Thank you!

[cruxxfay]

The question is:

"Find the areas of these shapes. Give your answer to 3 significant figures."

There are 6 shapes in that exercise and this particular one is question 5.

Graphically I am given 3 information, as you have already noticed.

I am starting to wonder if they are missing one piece of information or is it that I am just lost.

Yes the entire base is not given, only a length of it is 3.5 m.

Thanks.

[stapel_eliz]

Graphically I am given 3 information, as you have already noticed.

I am starting to wonder if they are missing one piece of information or is it that I am just lost.

Imagine (in your head) that the figure is stretchy. Picture sliding the measured portion of the base to the right. Do you "see" that the area becomes larger without any of the unlabelled information changing?

This shows that the posted information is not sufficient, of itself, to enable you to determine the area of the left-hand triangle or of the entire triangle. It is sufficient only to find the area of the right-hand triangle.

[cruxxfay]

Thank you for the answer. I was doing a Pre-IB course and thought there would be an advanced way of solving this. But anyway thanks