Question

Triangle ABC has the coordinates A(-3, -2), B(2, 4) and C(2,-2). What is the area of triangle ABC?

Answer 1

Answer:   The area is 15 square units

Step-by-step explanation:  It is helpful to sketch the coordinates on a graph to get an idea of what the triangle looks like so you can see which side will be the base, and where to get the height. You will see that AB is the hypotenuse, it is a right triangle, so AC can be the base and BC is the height.

Use the differences in x-values of points C & A to get the length of the base:   2-(-3) is 5

Use the differences in y-values of points B & C to get the height:

4-(-2) = 6

Area = bh/2

A = 5×6/2 = 30/2

A = 15 square unts