when you gave leslie the area of the flower bed, she asked, "what if
you looked at the triangle from a different point of view? would the
area be the same? " you want to show leslie how confident you are
about your previous answer (84). you draw the triangle again, this time using the
15-foot side as the base. you use k for the length of the new altitude.
1. a. label the two parts of the new base
y and 15 - y. using the pythagorean
theorem, write two equations that
you can use to find the value of k.
b. use your equations to find the
value of k.
c. find the area of the triangle using
this base and altitude.
2. explain to leslie why you knew that
the area would come out the same as
before.
3. find the length of the altitude to the 13-foot side. check the
triangle's area using this base and altitude as well.