How do you find the area of a right triangle if one leg is three times the other and the hypotenuse is 10?

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Answer 1 · 2015-05-27T01:55:00

Let the shorter leg of the right triangle be #x#
#rarr# the longer leg is #3x#

Since the hypotenuse is #10#
by the Pythagorean Theorem

#x^2 +(3x)^2 = 10^2#

#10x^2 = 100#

#x = sqrt(10)#

The area of the triangle is
#A = 1/2 bh#

#= 1/2 * sqrt(10) * 3(sqrt(10))#

#= 15#