Question 3
An isosceles triangle has base , and its area is . What are the lengths of the equal sides?
- In an isosceles triangle, the altitude drawn to the base bisects the base into two equal halves at a right angle.
- First, find the height (altitude) using the formula .
- Then, apply the Pythagoras theorem to the right-angled triangle formed by the altitude, half the base, and one of the equal sides.
Step 1 · Find the Height of the Triangle
Given Using the area formula for a triangle
Step 2 · Calculate the Length of the Equal Sides
In an isosceles triangle, the altitude drawn to the base bisects the base
Let the length of each equal side be . Applying the Pythagoras theorem in the right-angled triangle formed by the altitude and half-base
- Using Full Base in Pythagoras Theorem: Using the entire base length instead of bisecting it to when applying the Pythagoras theorem.
- Confusing Altitude with Slant Side: Treating the computed height () as the side length of the triangle instead of solving for the hypotenuse ().
More questions in EOT
Identities in algebra can sometimes be shown as area relationships. For example:
The figure shown corresponds to the identity
Do you see how?
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(ii) has sides , , , and has sides , , . Show that has 4 times the area of . Does this mean that 4 copies of will fit into ? Check and see!
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(i) Fig. 6.43: What fraction of the triangle is shaded? (ii) Fig. 6.44: What fraction of the square is shaded?
Find the fraction of the rectangle covered by the circles in each of the following figures:
(i) Fig. 6.45: What fraction of the rectangle is covered by the circles?
(ii) Fig. 6.46: What fraction of the rectangle is covered by the circles?
Use the above to make a conjecture about the area occupied by circles fitted into a rectangle in the manner shown. Test your conjecture for particular cases: 10 circles; 20 circles; 50 circles. Then prove your conjecture!
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Show that the areas of the shaded blue triangle and the shaded red triangle are equal.
Find a way of cutting up the blue triangle into some number of pieces and rearranging the pieces to cover the red triangle.
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Show that and have equal area.
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