A rectangle and triangle have equal areas. The rectangle is 12 inches long and 8 inches wide. If the base of the triangle is 32 inches what is the length in inches of the altitude drawn to the base?

The altitude will be 6 inches in length. The area of the rectangle is length (l) times width (w) or l x w = 12 x 8 = 96 The area of a triangle is 1/2 the base (b) times the height (h), or altitude, and, because the area of the triangle is equal to the area of the rectangle, both will have an area of 96. For the triangle, 1/2 b x h = 1/2 x 32 x h = 96, and 16 x h = 96, and h = 6