College Math Placement Practice Test

Which expression represents the area of a triangle with base b and height h?

1. bh

2. (1/2)bh

3. 2bh

4. bh^2

The correct answer is: (1/2)bh

The area of a triangle is calculated using the formula that includes both the base and the height. Specifically, the area is given by the formula: \[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \] In this context, the base is represented by the variable \( b \) and the height is represented by \( h \). Therefore, substituting these into the formula results in: \[ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times b \times h = \frac{1}{2}bh \] This indicates that the correct expression for the area of the triangle, with \( b \) as the base and \( h \) as the height, is indeed \((1/2)bh\). Other expressions provided do not correctly reflect the formula for the area of a triangle. The expression \( bh \) without the \(\frac{1}{2}\) would represent the area of a rectangle rather than a triangle. The expression \( 2bh \) would imply a figure that is twice the correct area of a triangle, leading to miscalculation. Lastly, \( bh^2 \