Use the image to answer the question.
An illustration of a parallelogram shows the following dimensions: The base is 12 feet. The perpendicular height from the top left vertex to the base is 7 inches. The height is drawn as a dashed line.
A pool company is installing a parallelogram-shaped swimming pool in a family’s back yard. Compose a rectangle to find the amount of area that the pool will take up in the yard. What is the area of the pool?
To find the area of the parallelogram-shaped swimming pool, we first need to find the area of the rectangle that would fit around it.
The base of the parallelogram is 12 feet. To create a rectangle around the parallelogram, we need to draw a line parallel to the base from the top right vertex to the base. This line will also be 12 feet long.
The height of the parallelogram is 7 inches. To create a rectangle around the parallelogram, we need to extend the height to reach the top two corners of the rectangle. This will create a rectangle with a height of 7 inches + 7 inches = 14 inches.
Converting the height to feet (14 inches = 1.17 feet), the area of the rectangle would be:
12 feet * 1.17 feet = 14.04 square feet
So, the area of the parallelogram-shaped swimming pool in the family's back yard would be 14.04 square feet.