Question

Hi there. I am having an issue figuring out which is the base and which is the length.

Answer 1

We can split the given figure in 2 right triangles:

So, in order to get the area of each triangle, we need to find the base, denoted by x in both of them. Since both are right triangles, we can to apply Pythagoresn theorem. By applying this theorem to right hand side triangle, we have

$x^2+8^2=17^2$

so we have

$\begin{gathered} x^2+64=289 \\ then \\ x^2=289-64 \\ x^2=225 \end{gathered}$

Then, x is given by

$x=\sqrt{225}=15$

Then, the area of the left triangle is given by

$A_1=\frac{base\times height}{2}=\frac{15\times36}{2}=270in^2$

Similarly, the area of the second triangle is given by

$A_2=\frac{base\times height}{2}=\frac{15\times8}{2}=60in^2$

Then, the area of the entire figure is the sum of the area of the 2 triangles, that is,

$A=A_1+A_2=270+60=330in^2$

Therefore, the answer is: 330 square inches