The3Mathketeers

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Below is a diagram of the problem presented with all points labeled appropriately.

 

There are probably many methods that work, but I decided to use the Law of Cosines to find an angle, which will allow me to find other information about the triangle.

\({\rm BC}^2 = {\rm AC}^2 + {\rm AB}^2 - 2({\rm AC})({\rm AB})\cos m \angle \rm A \\  12^2 = 8^2 + 17^2 - 2 * 8 * 17 * \cos m \angle {\rm A} \\  144 = 64 + 289 - 272 \cos m \angle {\rm A} \\  -272\cos m \angle {\rm A} = -209 \\  \cos m \angle {\rm A} = \frac{209}{272}\)

 

\(\overline{AD}\) is the base and \(\overline{CD}\) is the height of \(\triangle ACD\). Since \(\triangle ACD\) is a right triangle, finding the remaining sides is somewhat easier although the numbers become ugly.

\(\cos m \angle {\rm A} = \frac{\rm AC}{\rm AD} \\ \frac{209}{272} = \frac{8}{\rm AD} \\ {\rm AD} = \frac{209}{34}\)

 

Now, we can use Pythagorean's Theorem to find CD. The numbers only get worse from here.

\({\rm AC}^2 = {\rm AD}^2 + {\rm CD}^2 \\ 8^2 = \left(\frac{209}{34}\right)^2 + {\rm CD}^2 \\  {\rm CD}^2 = \frac{73984}{34^2} - \frac{43681}{34^2} \\  {\rm CD}^2 = \frac{30303}{34^2} \\  {\rm CD} = \frac{\sqrt{30303}}{34}\)

 

Now, we have the base and the height, we can calculate the area of the desired triangle.

\(A_{\triangle \text{ACD}} = \frac{1}{2}bh \\  A_{\triangle \text{ACD}} = \frac{1}{2} * \text{AD} * \text{CD} \\  A_{\triangle \text{ACD}} = \frac{1}{2} * \frac{209}{34} * \frac{\sqrt{30303}}{34} \\ A_{\triangle \text{ACD}} = \frac{209\sqrt{30303}}{2314} \approx 15.7363\)

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Aug 12, 2023