The diagram shows a triangular prism of length 7cm. The right - angled triangle PQR is a cross section of the prism |PR| = 5cm and |RQ| = 3cm. What is the a...

The diagram shows a triangular prism of length 7cm. The right - angled triangle PQR is a cross section of the prism |PR| = 5cm and |RQ| = 3cm. What is the area of the cross-section?

Answer Details

The area of a triangle is given by the formula: $$ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} $$ In triangle PQR, the base is |RQ| = 3cm and the height is |PS|, where S is the foot of the perpendicular from point P to line QR. Since the cross section is a right-angled triangle, we can use Pythagoras theorem to find |PS| as follows: $$ \begin{align*} |PS|^2 &= |PR|^2 - |RS|^2 \\ &= 5^2 - 3^2 \\ &= 16 \\ \end{align*} $$ Therefore, |PS| = 4cm. Substituting the values for base and height into the area formula, we get: $$ \text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 3\text{cm} \times 4\text{cm} = 6\text{cm}^2 $$ Hence, the area of the cross-section is 6 cm².