Use the image to answer the question.
An illustration shows a right triangle with a base labeled as 6 inches and the height labeled as 24 inches.
Find the area of the right triangle in square inches.
To find the area of the right triangle, we use the formula:
Area = 0.5 * base * height
Plugging in the values from the image, we get:
Area = 0.5 * 6 * 24
Area = 3 * 24
Area = 72 square inches
Therefore, the area of the right triangle is 72 square inches.
were did the 0.5 come from?
The 0.5 in the formula for finding the area of a triangle comes from the fact that the area of a triangle is equal to half the product of the base and the height. This is because a triangle can be seen as half of a rectangle.
So the formula for finding the area of a right triangle is:
Area = 0.5 * base * height
This formula is derived from the general formula for finding the area of a triangle, which is:
Area = 0.5 * base * height
I hope this clarifies the origin of the 0.5 in the formula! Let me know if you have any more questions.
How do you get 0.5?
The reason we use 0.5 in the formula for finding the area of a triangle is because the area of a triangle is equal to half the product of the base and the height. The formula for the area of a triangle is derived from the formula for the area of a rectangle, where the area of a rectangle is equal to the product of its base and height.
However, because a triangle is exactly half of a rectangle, the formula for finding the area of a triangle is:
Area = 0.5 * base * height
This 0.5 essentially represents the "half" of the rectangle that the triangle is equivalent to. So, when calculating the area of a triangle, we include the 0.5 to ensure that we are taking into account the fact that a triangle is half of a rectangle.
I hope this explanation clarifies why we use 0.5 in the formula for finding the area of a triangle. Let me know if you need further clarification!