What is the area of the parllelogtam shown below

Let x be the height of the parallelogram. Right now it's unknown, but we can solve for it using the pythagorean theorem. Focus on the right triangle. It has legs a = 3 and b = x, with hypotenuse c = 5

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

3^2 + x^2 = 5^2

9 + x^2 = 25

x^2 = 25-9

x^2 = 16

x = sqrt(16)

x = 4

This is a 3-4-5 right triangle.

The height of the parallelogram is 4 units.

We have enough info to find the area of the parallelogram

Area of parallelogram = base*height

Area of parallelogram = 4*4

Area of parallelogram = 16 square units

Coincidentally, the base and height are the same, which isn't always going to be the case. The base is visually shown as the '4' in the diagram. The height is the dashed line, which also happens to be 4 units long.

step-by-step explanation:

assume that you have 3 different side lengths.   apply the pythagorean theorem here:   square each of the two shortest sides; call them a and b, so that their squares are a² and b².   also square the longest side, calling the result c².

now, if a² + b² = c² is true, the triangle is a right triangle; otherwise it is not a right triangle.