Q49. GMAT Math - Triangles

Q. What is the area of the trangle ABC?
1] AB^2+BC^2 = 22
2] AC^2=22

PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR REASONING AND NOT JUST THE ANSWER CHOICES.

Difficulty Level : Easy
Time to Solve : <70 secs

GMAT Crash Courses - for $100 only. **Valid till Nov 8th, 2009

__________________
- Hagrid

GMAT Math and Verbal Crash Courses starting at $100 only (offer valid for limited time)

Follow ScoreVille on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ScoreVille

IMO E

IMO E coz we dont have any info on AB and BC which are reqd to find the area....simply a right angled triangle info cant help...

IMO E - 30 secs

Area - 1/2*b*h

From 1: AB^2 + BC^2 = 22: Since we are using Pythagoras's theory, this must be a right triangle, and AC^2 = 22. If we use sqrt(22) as the base we would have to draw a perpendicular line from AC to the 90 degree vertex for the height. We still have no way to determine the height because we don't know anything about AB or BC except the sum of their squares equals 22. Their respective length have an infinite number of possibilities. Insufficient

From 2: AC^2 = 22. We can't even assume this is a right triangle now and this leaves us clueless to the lengths of the other sides. Insufficient.

Together: Statement 2 doesn't give you anymore new information that we didn't already know in statement 1, so this is insufficient too.

Answer E.

I would choose "E" because we do not have enough information to find the area of the triangle. The equation for the area of a triangle is 1/2 (b)(h), thus we cannot find the height with the given information.