Calculate the Perimeter of a Triangle!

29 Sep 2023

Question:

The vertices of a triangle are (3,-2), (5,-8) and (-2, 1). What is the approximate perimeter of the triangle?

A. 17

B. 33

C. 24

The approximate perimeter of the triangle is 24.

To calculate the perimeter of the triangle, we need to find the distance between the three pairs of points given.

1. Distance between (3,-2) and (5,-8) = √((3-5)^2 + (-2-(-8))^2) = √(4 + 36) = √40

2. Distance between (5,-8) and (-2,1) = √((5-(-2))^2 + (-8-1)^2) = √(49 + 81) = √130

3. Distance between (-2,1) and (3,-2) = √((-2-3)^2 + (1-(-2))^2) = √(25 + 9) = √34

Therefore, the perimeter of the triangle is calculated by adding the three distances together:

Perimeter = distance 1 + distance 2 + distance 3

= √40 + √130 + √34

= 6.32 + 11.40 + 5.83

= 23.55 ≈ 24