What is the area of a triangle with a base of 8 cm and a height of 5 cm?

To find the area of a triangle, the formula used is (\text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height}). In this case, the base is 8 cm and the height is 5 cm.

Plugging in these values gives:

[

\text{Area} = \frac{1}{2} \times 8 , \text{cm} \times 5 , \text{cm}

]

Calculating this step-by-step:

1. First, multiply the base and the height:

(8 \times 5 = 40 , \text{cm}^2).

2. Then, take half of that value:

(\frac{1}{2} \times 40 , \text{cm}^2 = 20 , \text{cm}^2).

Thus, the area of the triangle is 20 cm².

This calculation clearly shows that the correct choice is indeed the area of 20 cm², confirming the accuracy of the result.