[Math] Area of two triangles constructed by the diagonal of a trapezoid.

geometry

The area of a trapezoid, whose bases are in the ratio 3 to 2, equals 35. Find the area of the triangles which we get if we draw one of the diagonals.

I have drawn in both diagonals and got a bunch of triangles and compared the areas. I got 35/3 and 70/3 but not sure that is correct.

Best Answer

Let $B$ be the great base and $b=2B/3$ be the small .

then the area of trapezoid is

$$A=\frac {b+B}{2}H=\frac {5}{6}BH =35$$ where $H $ is the height.

thus $$BH=42$$ the area of triangles are

$$A_1=BH/2=21$$ and $$A_2=2A_1/3=14$$